The Hand You're Dealt
by Araceil
Summary: I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya. Trigger warning: Transphobia, Self-harming, SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/Het... Kinda? Pairing a secret for now.
1. C1- Namimori

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/Het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya. Trigger warning: Transphobia, Self-harming

_**000**_

**CHAPTER ONE  
Namimori**

Why was I doing this again?

I sighed as I hefted my backpack up, tugging my ponytail free, and meandered my way through Narita Airport.

Ah, yes, it was a '_job_' given to me by the Arcobaleno of the Sun – because that was a thing. Refusing a 'job' from an Arcobaleno. Pfft, like doing so wasn't a delayed execution order at best. That, and my mother had been half-Japanese, I wanted to see the country of her birth and whether or not I could track down any of her remaining family, family _worth_ meeting.

_That_ was why I was doing this.

Reclaiming my suitcase, I rubbed my face and followed the tide of humanity through the polished metal corridors to the Exit where I flagged down one of the rare taxis of Japan.

"Where to, Ojosan?" the driver asked politely in English as I got myself settled in the backseat, seatbelt clipped in.

"Namimori, please, hotel or Ryokan, a cheap one if you can swing it," I requested in Japanese, there was a very high-chance I wouldn't be here for long.

"We'll be there in two hours. It'll roughly be eighty-thousand yen though," the driver explained a little apologetically.

"I am aware, thank you for your concern. Don't worry about it," I assured him as I settled back deeper into my seat with a sigh, his response washing over me as we peeled away from the taxi bay.

Intellectually, I knew I would someday have to come here. I had fears that I both would, and wouldn't. After all, I was not _actually_ Hayato Gokudera, even though I was in his body, had grown up as him, was born as him. I was not... It is difficult to explain, even more so by the fact that I don't exactly know what happened myself.

You see, I was a mind that remembered more than one life.

Whether I merely slipped through some cosmic gap in reality, or if reincarnation was actually what awaited the dead was not something I knew. It wasn't as if I was completely aware of this as an infant, cognizant while within the womb or during my birth. No. The human brain, incredible though it is, could not handle something like that.

To me, as an infant, I would have quite possibly liquidated by own brain by accident or overstressed it to such a degree it shut down, turned myself into a vegetable. I did not slide, wet, screaming, and red into this world with the memories of my past life and the mind of a twenty five year old woman. I was born a frightfully intelligent infant who developed mentally far faster than the doctors, my mother, or my father, had believed was possible. I was a happy child. A blank slate. Or rather... a blank-page that someone had laid over my past life. The colours and lines faintly visible, but washed out through the fresh clean start of my new life. It was less that I was a genius as my father would crow to anyone listening, but more that I already knew what I was doing, I just needed to remember.

I was five when that blank sheet of paper was _burned_ and _torn_ away from me with such sudden ferocity and violence that I very nearly lost myself to my own memories. My old life.

I was five when a rival Famiglia abducted both myself and my older sister as we played at the edges of the manor-grounds. She was eight and tried her hardest to protect me, only they hit her hard enough to knock her unconscious, and then that blank page was ripped away and I grabbed the gun out of his hand – levelled it at his throat, and thumbed the safety off. In my previous life, I had learned how to use guns and firearms from my father and my older brother. And in this life, my older sister was in danger.

I squeezed the trigger, and put a bullet through our would-be-abductor's throat.

That was went our father appeared, bundling both myself and my sister up in his arms and rushing us back to the manor where his private Doctor looked us over. I spent weeks near enough catatonic, trying to digest the events that had just happened to me. I suffered from constant migraines that had the Doctor rather worried as my brain scans were off the charts trying to assimilate an extra twenty years into my five-year-old brain.

I was born in Motherwell, Scotland. My name had been Agatha, Aggie for short. My mum had been an older woman when I was born, my Dad even older. The last attempt at a family before my mother became too old. Even back then, as Aggie, I had been frightfully clever. My Dad believed that any day you didn't learn something new was a day that you had wasted your time. He grew up without an education and poured every last disposable coin to his name on my education. I didn't want to let him down, or my mum who had also been deprived of education. So I worked hard. I went to London to study at university.

And got caught in a terrorist bombing.

I died in an explosion.

And now... Physically, I was existing within the body of the Hurricane Bomb, Gokudera Hayato.

An individual I had become acquainted in my youth as a character in a comic book. A criminal who blew other people up, killed them with explosions.

There had to have been a kind of irony in there.

Mentally, I was female. Physically I was male.

My name was Hayato Gokudera, Aya preferably, I had an older sister by the name of Bianchi, and I had killed a man at the age of five.

When all this information finally settled into my mind, I think I could be forgiven for the hysterical breakdown that followed.

My childhood changed drastically with the outlook of an adult permeating my thoughts and perspectives. Knowing that I was living in a mafia household, the things I witnessed took on a vastly different, and much more unsettling slant. Strange men and women passing in and out of the house, strange cars and shipments, talk in the corridors of reprisals, attacks, shipments, and routes for certain products – product being a word that embittered mind equated to drugs. Because of course a mafia family would be involved in drugs, or guns, or people, or organs, or any other numerable number of illegal substances and products that would be in need of discreet transport.

Having already been acquainted with the character, the revealing of Gokudera Lavina's death and her true relationship with me was not as much of a shock, but the pain that accompanied the discovery of her death was no less sharp. I had very fond memories of the silver haired woman with the pretty smile that so patiently taught me how to play the piano – an ability that I never gave up, nor forgot in the intervening years between then and now. I was lucky enough to be blessed with two amazing and wonderful mothers, simply because one was newer than the other, did not make either of them lesser than the other. But my father, my daddy, would forever be Aggie's father, Wulliam, not Hayato's. That man was far too weak willed, far too easily swayed by the words of others, and while he did love both my sister and I, he didn't know what to do with us and had some very firm ideas on the roles of men and women, civilians and mafioso, in society. And very _definite_ plans on just what my future, and the future of my sister was going to be. Regardless of our thoughts or feelings.

I tried to protect my sister from that poisonous thinking. She was a cute kid, she thought she could do anything, rule the world, climb any mountain, and conquer any challenge. That kind of thinking I wanted her to _keep_! I didn't want her to end up with that stupid dependency on men later on in her life, that naïve belief that love would conquer all, that love was the only important thing in life. That poisonous kind of thinking that eventually lead a powerful vibrant young woman to sitting around playing House in the Sawada home, taking care of Haru and Kyoko, Lambo and I-pin, instead of being all that she could have been simply because a man who paid her a lick of attention called that place a home. She was better than that. She _deserved_ better than that!

I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be, but I managed to avoid the constant poisoning that the real Gokudera suffered through, I also managed to keep a fairly good relationship with my sister.

Though, quite like canon, I managed to alienate myself from Shamal – but in this instance, I earned his revulsion and disgust at the same time. In perfect honesty, even now, it wouldn't surprise me if that man wanted to see me dead.

I foolishly, naively, confided in the young doctor, looking for reassurance, advice, help, anything. I told him that I felt I was in the wrong body. I went to him in confidence as a doctor and poured my heart out to him, that my body felt wrong, that I didn't want to do the normal things that a boy would do, that I felt too old for my skin, and that I was frightened of what my father would do if he learned about this. Instead of the help I had hoped for, I got the exact opposite.

He outed me to the whole family, practically threw everything I had confided into him right into my father's face, twisted my words into weapons, dropped our family into the toilet and left. My sister finding his room empty when she came to talk to him and found what little was left behind trashed and broken.

Bianchi never forgave him.

Especially when our father changed his behaviour towards me. Of course he did. The moment the rest of the family became aware that I was a 'Faggot Tranny', I may as well have become as welcome as dry rot in our house. My father would come down on me like a tonne of bricks when I showed interest in anything he didn't deem manly, even going so far as to physically strike me on more than one occasion, or turn a blind eye when someone else did so as well. My hair was forcibly cropped short, I wasn't allowed to play the piano any more, I wasn't allowed to play with my sister anymore – the voices of the family that my father paid more attention to than his own children blamed Bianchi and my mother's influence for my 'unnaturalness', blamed me for fucking my sister's head up as she spiralled further and further into depression and mania caused by something that no one seemed willing to explain to me. She began to feed her newly developing Poison Cooking to the staff, accidentally murdering three of them and two members of the family before everyone cottoned onto what was going on. I don't think she even knew what she had done, or why the maids she offered her treats to were no longer in the house, she snuck to me one day and asked what she had done to upset them so much, as they weren't there anymore. I hadn't the heart to tell her about their deaths, or that it was her fault. I lied, I told her they had a family emergency.

I took to carrying antidotes with me as she slipped further and further away into her delusions and fed her deadly creations to others, it always upset her when they 'went away', she didn't understand that she had killed them. It broke my heart to see her get worse and worse and our father do absolutely _nothing_! Caring more about what clothing I wore, and the length of my hair, and whether or not I was reading appropriately gory, action orientated, filled with tits and female objectification fiction books, instead of the fact that my sister was sick and getting worse and worse with every passing day! The number of people she nearly killed, completely unknowingly, rising with every week. Lives I only just managed to save with the timely administering of said antidotes, antidotes I MADE myself with what I could scrounge up because I hated seeing her so confused and upset by the missing men and women she had grown up with.

The day she poisoned me was the day everything changed.

She hadn't meant to, she didn't even know she had. I hadn't even known she had until the stomach cramps hit me. I managed to down an antidote in time, but my stomach lining was _stripped_. For the next few days I stayed as quiet and out of the way as possible, wearing baggy comfort clothing and never straying far from the toilets, I felt too rotten to even try in those days.

Then, _then_, I reached the end of my rope.

The day I overheard my father asking my poor, unwell, deluded sister to cook a special meal filled with Love for me.

The day I overheard my father plot to murder me.

I wonder if the canon Gokudera ever realised this when his father told Bianchi to continue feeding him her poison cooking. I don't think he did. After all, he never felt any ill-will towards said father, save for the death of his mother.

I didn't even wait for dinner-time before I was packing. I was not going to deal with this any more.

I was a grown ass woman, for all that I was an eight year old little boy, I knew how to survive in the world on my own. I packed clothing, money, my papers, and then I left. I took my bicycle from the garage, and I cycled out of the estate through the front gate without pause. And no one looked twice at me, or tried to stop me.

I sent letters back to my sister, but that was the last I ever saw, or heard, of my family ever again. Save perhaps for a glimpse of one of my father's men as they dogged my heels every now and again – never catching up because they were all looking for a little boy. Not the little girl I very quickly began to pretend to be. And when they did look for a little girl, I became a little boy. I was both and yet neither. Both were open to me and I took shameless advantage of it. It kept me below the radar and ahead of those men. But it did, of course, come with its own hazards with the various Famiglias I attempted to join. Once you were in this blood-soaked underworld, leaving was hard, and who else was going to hire an eight year old? No one that was who. Which left more illegal territories to explore if I wanted to put food in my mouth without having to put _other_ things in there as well.

Years later, a dozen failed Famiglia attempts later, here I was.

Namimori.

Fulfilling a '_job_' for that Asshole Shamal's friend, the Sun Arcobaleno Reborn. To come and test his student. Though, not quite worded like that, he seemed to be under the impression that I was just like the Gokudera Hayato of canon, and had thus sent the _exact_ same information as he had last time. That if I were to defeat Sawada Tsunayoshi in combat, then I would become a candidate for Decimo within the Vongola. As if I were really that naïve to believe that the most powerful famiglia would ever allow such a thing. As if they would even consider someone like me _joining_ their group. This whole thing was a pile of shit. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get away from this underworld, the reek of blood and death dogging my heels. Several Famiglias had rejected me out of hand, one or two had taken me in, one or two I wished I had never even heard of. Taken into their fold only because one of their higher-ups was '_into_' this sort of thing, had a fetish for small children or those people like me who felt that they were in the wrong bodies, the memories had left their scars. I got slaved out, treated like crap, used, and thrown aside when I was no longer useful by those who had decided to take note of my mind. I never got the protection I desired, the acceptance I craved. All because of what I was. All because my mind didn't match my body. And now, _now_, the bestfriend of the man who destroyed my life, the bastard who crushed me when I put my bleeding heart into his hands, tracked me down. Feeding me yet another bullshit story, a 'job'. Yeah right. A request isn't a request if you can't refuse. And of course, when all was said and done, when I'd tested Sawada to Reborn's satisfaction, I would be let go until they had need of me again, left to flounder and find my own way, or drown – like I had done so many years ago.

I sighed as I opened my eyes to stare out of the taxi window, I would have liked to think he was hoping that Sawada-san's Sky Flame would be powerful enough to draw me in. I knew I was a powerful Storm Flame, I also knew I had a great deal of potential based entirely on the potential of Gokudera Hayato in the canon material. This body was the same, I had his mind – the hardwiring at least – which meant I was just as intelligent, but with the experience and wisdom of an entirely different outlook and an extra decade to direct that intelligence to more productive areas, hence why and how I got slaved out so badly when I was younger, without protection, trying to make my own way in life. But I also knew there was no way that Sawada would ever accept me, it just wasn't going to happen.

And I don't think Reborn was aware of the fact that I was no longer in no way desperate enough for acceptance from _anyone_ to scrape and bow and change who I was.

The question right now was... Did I want to get involved with the future events of the comic? Did I want to get involved with these people's lives, care about them, live with the fear of losing them through my own stupid actions or inactions?

Did I particularly want to get into fights with the likes of Rokudo Mukuro, the VARIA, Millefiore, Byakuran, the Shimon, even the Vindice, and the Arcobaleno of Old?

In all honesty, no, no I didn't.

But could I afford not to? I may not become Sawada's Storm Guardian, or even a member of the Vongola, but things like the Vindice, the Millefiore, that would affect me as well, regardless of whether or not I was working for them. Even Rokudo Mukurou, the Shimon, and the VARIA would affect me as well, if not because Mukurou was trying to destroy the Mafia, or the Shimon erase the Vongola/Daemon Spade take over the Vongola, or the VARIA looking for recruits (they accepted Lussuria, they would have no issue with someone like me, the problem was, I wasn't a killer if I could help it. But I didn't think I would be in any position to refuse them if they offered me a place, I needed the work).

I sighed again and pinched the bridge of my nose. My eyes were aching with exhaustion, I wanted to punch Reborn but I knew that was about as likely as Shamal declaring that I had worth as a human being, or my sister recovering from her mania. I wondered how she was doing...

"Here we go, Namimori's Blue Swallow Ryokan," the Taxi driver announced as we came to a stop.

I blinked, sitting up sharply in surprise, that – had I fallen asleep? The journey should have been two hours, it felt more like two minutes!

"A-ah, yes, of course, let me get my wallet out," I fumbled, pawing over my backpack for it. I must be more tired than I thought I was, the journey had passed in a complete blur.

Paying the patient taxi-driver and giving him a small tip as thanks, I made my way into the Blue Swallow and got myself a room for three weeks (I wasn't ruling anything out, I might end up joining with Sawada-san, and I would need time to look for accommodation and employment in that time, if not, well, I could have myself a pleasant holiday and then move on), thankfully it wasn't a massively exorbitant price, the Driver had been kind enough to take me to a cheap but still nice establishment. I was suddenly extra happy that I had made a point of tipping him. The Blue Swallow was a beautiful place, very traditional. I left my shoes at the entrance and stepped into the slippers with great relief, I loved my sneakers, but slippers were fluffier and just that little bit more comfortable after travelling for what was now clocking up to be sixteen hours. I was served some tea while everything was sorted and given a few snacks, my host kindly explaining that they were specifically served in Ryokan so that people wouldn't faint in the hot baths, which was fairly interesting to know. I thought that was just an anime stereotype.

They got me settled in, with yukata, slippers, and times for meals before showing me to the baths, which I gladly took advantage of, luxuriating in the hot outdoors onsen for a good hour before I finally managed to tear myself out of the gloriously hot water that eased away the travelling aches, and into fresh underclothing and the offered yukata. Dinner was traditional Japanese fair, and a lot of it on many different little plates. All of it delicious, except for the natto, that I steered clear of after the first taste, politely informing my concerned host that it just didn't agree with my palate, but thank you for letting me experience it.

When I got back to my room, I found my futon laid out for me and more towels for a second, moonlit bath. Two baths in one day. Huh, I guess the Japanese really _were_ that anal about cleanliness. I would have to keep that in mind if I did end up staying, which I could see myself doing, if only because it would be easier to get legitimate work here than in Europe. Japan was a lot more lax on how its teens and children were overlooked, they were expected to do chores and take care of themselves and be more independent than in the west.

As I got settled in, I contemplated my next step.

In the canon, Gokudera had enrolled in Namimori and observed Sawada-san for a little while before outright attacking him in a fit of pique. Upon being rescued, he immediately swore loyalty to 'Juudaime' and the Vongola, vowing to protect Sawada-san with his life.

I was not the type of person to go in, bombs blazing first. I wasn't the same kind of hothead that Gokudera was. Should have been. Whatever. But I was angry, surprisingly so, with this whole shitty situation.

I sighed and burrowed myself down into the blankets, maybe I _should_ observe Sawada-san? It would give me a better idea of how to test him later, and potentially make contact with Reborn at the same time to discuss payment – because like hell was I doing this for free. Travel and accommodation in Japan was not cheap.

_**000**_

The next morning, after a traditional Japanese breakfast, I left the Ryokan to explore the city a bit, find the school. I saw the Disciplinary Committee milling around (and had to stare for a few seconds because HOLY SHIT, those regent hairstyles! They were really real and they _somehow_ managed to extend half a foot in front of their foreheads without drooping, what kind of magic hair spray did you need to _do_ that?) and got a few of them demanding I explain myself, why wasn't I in school, why was I lurking and grouping here, etc, etc. They settled down with the explanation of recently moving to the area and looking into the local schools to decide which one to enrol in. One of them even going so far as to offer me a tour.

Eh, I needed to get into the building anyway. I accepted the offer and was escorted through the building by about four of the Committee who were determined to show me everything and – oh god, they were _flirting_. I very nearly stopped when I realised this. A group of fourteen to fifteen year old boys were flirting with me, I had – cumulatively, I was mentally old enough to be their mothers'. This was _very_ awkward. I carefully kept my smile easy and natural even as I felt like turning tail and throwing myself out of the nearest window to escape them. I did not deal well with people acting like this around me, long experience had taught me it wasn't a good thing.

I did, however, end up watching Sawada-san's beautiful failure of a Volleyball game.

I couldn't help the snorting giggle I gave when I saw the Jump Bullets take effect, or the ball that introduced itself to the teenager's face.

The tour ended fairly quickly when another member of the Committee rushed over and informed them that 'Hibari-Taicho' was unhappy. I got quickly hustled off the grounds with a request to please consider Namimori before they practically fell all over themselves to get back to what they _should_ have been doing. I couldn't help but shake my head. Teenagers.

Well, I had seen Sawada-san in action... well, '_action_'.

I snorted unattractively again, unable to stop myself when I thought back on that volleyball match. What the hell was that? Seriously!

I knew Sawada was terrible at sports, but that was just so ridiculously comical it had to be fake.

_**000**_

I spent the next few days tailing the brunet, idly playing at Tourist. I got to visit Takesushi, and yes, their food was quite delicious – I was especially fond of their dessert menu, I'd never tried anmitsu before, or dango. Plus some of the icecream flavours were really interesting, I think I tried all of them at least once much to Yamamoto-san's amusement as he brought out my orders.

I didn't encounter Reborn, but that was fine, I had an idea of how to handle Sawada-san now. And... I found myself warming to the idea of sticking around. Namimori was a pleasant place though I didn't think I would stay there, it was too hot, too filled with Mafia activity. And I wanted to try becoming a normal person, I wanted to escape that blood-soaked world, properly. I was fed up to the back teeth of being _used_. Of being hated and looked down on simply for existing. It was exhausting, it was soul crushing. I was _tired_ of apologising for being myself. I wasn't going to do it anymore. Not for anyone. Once I'd finished with Sawada, I would spend the rest of my time at the Ryokan while job hunting in Tokyo, when I had somewhere to work, I would pour the last of my savings into getting myself a flat. I would change my name, I would erase Gokudera Hayato.

I would live without the Mafia. But first, I had to deal with Reborn and Sawada.

I bared my teeth as I enrolled in Namimori Middle School. Reborn wanted me to test his student – _fine_.

Let's see how he survives the Hurricane.

_**000**_

**BAM. Chapter one finished. **

**This originally started as an experiment into writing the difficulties that a transgendered individual may face, however, being a cis-woman ****I realised that I would never be able to do this justice and opted instead to just brush that idea aside. However, the story idea in its concept just kept speaking to me, so I decided to continue with the idea of a female!OC being reincarnated into Gokudera Hayato, and opting to remain true to herself, instead of the character she now is.**

**So, if there are any lovely ladies, or awesome guys, or even those fantastic individuals who are neither and both all at once, please, I apologise if it comes across as offensive, that isn't my intention. I just didn't want to belittle the trials, the difficulties, the feelings that you may or may not have faced by misrepresenting them or trivialising them in a way that I wouldn't have realised. **

**Hope you guys have enjoyed the first chapter. There is more to come, and yes, I'll be looking a little further into Japanese culture than your average writer – I've had a long love of Japanese culture, so I will try to include it without drowning you in it.**

**Also, the 'Slash/Het...Kinda?' thing in the summary, that is literally me just being confused about how to tag this for other people. I don't tend to hang around the hardcore tumblr crowd so I'm a little bewildered on how to refer to this. Aya will be paired with a guy, he will be aware of her sex/gender differences, and he won't give a fuck either. That is his person and he wants them, regardless of what is in her underwear. Some would say this is slash because Aya's got dangly toilet parts, others would say its het because she's got a female brain and sense of self. I - would probably tag it as slash myself (mainly because I happen to ship male!Gokudera with this character XDDD).**

_Also, it's my birthday today, so I figured I would upload this, another chapter of Storming Skies, Devil's Bride, and another new story called _House of Cards, _a Sword Art Online/KHR centric story where Tsuna ends up in SAO at ten, before Reborn comes in on the scene. Features some realistic character development for Nana, hopefully some realistic character development for Tsuna (I'm not good at writing wishywashy characters – but I'm really trying). It's Gen, so no pairing for Tsuna, and there won't be any KHR characters involved with the SAO arc beyond what Nana is up to (I might see myself giving her a pairing later, depending on how I roll things out). I'll be sticking with canon SAO pairings though, so Kirito/Asuna._

_Check 'em out if you like the sound of it _8DD


	2. C2- Sawada Tsunayoshi

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER TWO  
Sawada Tsunayoshi**

Another day, another pain.

His life had certainly gotten more exciting with Reborn suddenly blowing everything up, attacking him in the mornings with mallets and tazers, chasing him to school, opening the gate to the Toshiba's garden where their foul tempered dog lived. It was _hell_. This morning though, aside from the usual wake up call, Reborn had let him come to school alone today. He might have been relieved had his skin not started crawling at the smirk on the baby's face. Reborn may only have been part of his life for the last few weeks, but that was a look he had already learned to be wary of. Something was going to happen today, something that Reborn had planned on. Oh Kami-sama, he was going to die.

He shivered in his seat as he glanced around the room nervously, he didn't want to deal with more excitement today. This morning was enough to last him the rest of the _month_!

"All rise!" Kurokawa Hana ordered as Nezu-sensei stepped in. Reluctantly he got to his feet with the rest of the class and they all bowed at their Class President's prompting before Nezu-sensei let them sit down. Registration went as usual, Nezu-sensei mechanically noting down who was present, who wasn't, making snide comments here and there ("Sawada?", "Present!", "Not that it helps you any." And cue class wide snickers and giggles at his expense. Ugh, he _hated_ Nezu-sensei).

Then he closed his book and stepped out from the desk, "Class, we have a new transfer student who has been studying overseas in Italy. Gokudera-san, please come in," he called and Tsuna watched as the door opened and almost every boy in the class went red, their mouths dropping open. He could definitely see why.

S-silver.

Long, elbow length wavy silver hair, messily clipped back into a bun seemingly without care, bangs fell down framing her face. A few black clips pinned it out of her eyes, cool pale green in colour as they surveyed the room, scanning over every face carefully. She... wasn't curvy. She was tall, and thin, with long legs, wearing the girls' uniform with black tights instead of knee-highs, around her waist was a metal studded belt with a set of chains wrapped around her hips. Her long fingers were adorned with silver rings of varying styles and types, her wrists covered with black sweat-bands and bracelets, one in a black armsock that went up to her elbow. She wore the boy's shirt, half undone, showing the plain black top she wore underneath, a pair of necklaces around her neck and a black velvet choker. She didn't wear make-up, and Tsuna quiet honestly didn't think she needed to. She was _stunning_. Not the cute kind of innocence that Kyoko-chan had (the kind that Tsuna liked best), but rather an icy cold elegance.

'_Like Yuuki-onna,_' Tsuna mused as Gokudera-san bowed politely to the class.

"Good morning, my name is Gokudera Hayato, please, call me Aya," she greeted, her voice neither high, nor low, but possessing a very clearly foreign accent as she spoke.

"S-she's cute." Tsuna heard one of the boys behind him whisper.

"Cute? You mean _hot_, look at those legs!" his friend hissed back. Tsuna shifted uncomfortably, he didn't want to be thinking of the new student's legs, he would rather be thinking about Kyoko-chan's.

He watched from the corner of his eye as the girl took her seat, sitting primly on the other side of the room near to the front. Nezu-sensei didn't seem to know what to make of her, she carried herself, and spoke, as if she were a queen, but dressed like a delinquent. Over the course of the lesson he made a point of singling her out for several questions during his lecture, all of which she was able to answer with ease. In the end, he clearly deemed her as a '_good apple_', and left her be, instead, returning to his favourite past time of taunting Tsuna himself – he wouldn't dare do the same to Yamamoto Takeshi, whose grades were just as bad, but was saved by the fact that he was the baseball club's rising star.

Tsuna could only sigh in relief as the class ended, watching as Gokudera-san was mobbed by the more confident of the boys in class, she didn't seem to notice or care though as her eyes picked through them, landing on him. He quickly looked away, horrified that she had caught him staring, he quickly scrambled out of the room for Gym class – he didn't want Kyoko-chan to get the impression that he was interested in the new girl, or for said girl to think he was being creepy like every other guy in their class.

She would probably get a boyfriend within a week and rat him out for staring at her, he decided bitterly as he made his way down the corridor, too busy thinking about the impending beat down to pay attention to where he was going until he knocked into someone.

"Ouch!" Tsuna flinched back at the lazy drawl, looking up at the three delinquent third years leering down at him. The one with the spikest hair sneering at him as he rolled the shoulder Tsuna had accidentally walked into, "I think I might have a broken bone," he complained, making Tsuna blanch. He didn't have the money to pay for the 'medical fees'.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M REAAAALLY SORRY!" he shrieked, sprinting away from the three at top speed – which was surprisingly fast given how the majority of the time he came in last place for track and field, yet was the fastest student in the school when it came to outrunning the bullies. He skidded around the corner and plastered himself against the wall, gasping for breath, a cold sweat running down his skin. "That was close," he gasped, panting to get his breath back, "I could've been beaten to death..."

"You probably would have done the world a favour if you'd stuck around then," a female voice informed him.

Tsuna gasped and flinched, whipping around in fright before he realised... that was the new transfer student's voice, Gokudera-san. She was leaning against one of the support poles for the roof, hands in front of her mouth as she – _lit up a __cigarette_?!

Oh no.

A female delinquent.

"I-I'll be leaving now," he squeaked, bowing out and trying to retreat.

She sniffed, "If a waste of space like you becomes the Tenth head of the Vongola, the alliances of Famiglias will go down the toilet faster than the Challenger Two Rocket hit the earth," she declared dismissively, chilling Tsuna down to the bone. She... knew about the Vongola? She... Oh.

_She_ was the reason Reborn looked so pleased this morning.

"Y-you – how do you know about the Family?" Tsuna squeaked.

The girl's green eyes flicked up to him in a haze of pale grey smoke and silver hair as she lazily sucked down a lungful of the cancer stick and slowly blew it out from between her lips. "You're better off staying out of that world," she told him instead, glaring down at him coolly, "Once you're in, there's no escaping. Trust me, I've tried. They would chew you up and spit you out," she warned him as she took another drag on the white stick in her mouth.

"I want to stay out! I want to!" he squawked waving his arms under her cold gaze. She didn't seem impressed.

"Do you really? This is the first time you've ever received any positive attention. You have the admiration of your peers, the attention of the girl you liked, your grades are even going up – by one point on average, but given how low they've always been, it is still an improvement. Do you _really_ want to give that up? Or are you just paying lip service to your morals?" she sneered viciously, making him shrink back against the wall.

She dropped her cigarette, delicately crushing the burning tip with the toe of her shoe before stalking over, looming over Tsuna's significantly shorter form – Kami-sama, she was the tallest girl he had ever met! Those icy green eyes flicked up and down him, and the growing sneer on her lips said that what she saw, she found significantly lacking.

"Look at you, I haven't even taken a weapon out and you're on the verge of pissing yourself. Who on earth thought _you_ would survive the Mafia world? You're weak, stupid, you're such a failure your own mother gave up on expecting anything out of you years ago," she continued, ruthlessly tearing into him, digging her nails into those hidden wounds and scars he thought were long healed and gone and tearing them open with malicious precision. Her hand caught his chin, forcing his brown eyes to meet her frosty jade green ones. "Did you ever think someone like _you_ would have a chance in this world?" she asked him pointedly, almost sounding gentle.

Tsuna swallowed, unable to tear his eyes away as he slowly shook his head, admitting, deeply in his heart of hearts that... "No..."

He had known, for many years now, that he would be destined for a life of mediocrity, he would fade into the working class, a burnout store assistant living on minimum wage in a crummy one-bed flat with no girlfriend prospects ever at best. At worst... He couldn't even consider it. Didn't want to consider it. Because at worst, Reborn would have his way, and he would become a criminal. A man who killed. He would become something worse than those Yakuza-Gakis that lurked at the back of the pachinko bar and harassed passing women.

Gokudera-san dropped her hand, straightening as if his admission had soothed some of her ire. She leaned back and observed him from down the length of her thin nose, before sighing and rummaging in the pocket of her skirt for another cigarette, she lit up and offered the box to him, blowing out a long plume of white smoke as he refused her offer of the cigarettes. She tucked them away with a careless shrug. "Do you want out?" she asked softly.

He nodded slowly, staring wordlessly down at his feet.

"Are you sure? Stepping out of the Mafia isn't easy, it's a one way street, there's no going back, no nothing. You'll be gone. No Namimori, no Reborn, no Vongola. Are you sure you want this?" she asked again, gently placing her hands on his shoulders, making him look up into those serious, everwinter green eyes.

"I-I'm sure. I don't... I never wanted this," he croaked. He didn't _want_ Reborn to burst into his life, to mess everything up, to give his mother delusions of expectation, to bring more unwanted attention to him, to make Kyoko-chan notice him at his worst, make him attack Mochida-senpai, confess to the girl he liked in his boxers like some attempted rapist!

She smiled and Tsuna felt his mouth go dry as she leaned down, "You're really brave, Sawada-san," she told him softly. "Close your eyes," she told him and, he had to, he could feel her breath on his lips and – was this really happening? Was he _really_ about to get kisse-

Something hard and round was slid between his lips, tasting of cardboard and something bitter, a soft hissing filling the air. His eyes sprang open and he _freaked_.

"Hold still, Sawada," Gokudera-san soothed, gripping the back of his head tightly in one hand as she forced the long stick of explosive dynamite between his teeth, choking him with it, "It'll be over quickly. I'll help you escape the Vongola. Remember, you _asked_ for this," she told him sweetly, her grip like iron as she inched the dynamite further into his mouth.

_HE DIDN'T ASK TO DIE!_

The sounds of gunshots had never been more relieving before in his life as the demon woman suddenly leapt away from him as if burnt, the sizzling wick of the deadly explosive between his lips having been shot off before it could blow his face off.

"Ciaossu," Reborn's voice greeted, Tsuna gagged and spat the dynamite out, his eyes blurry and tearing up as he collapsed back against the wall, staring at the dark eyed baby as he lowered his gun and observed the young woman. Was it his imagination or... did he look a little annoyed?

"Sun Arcobaleno Reborn, ciao," the young woman greeted coolly, straightening up and dismissing Tsuna entirely.

"Gokudera Hayato, you came earlier than I expected," Reborn returned before glancing down to Tsuna and then back to the girl, "I called you here to test him, not to take him out," he scolded, his eyes narrowing faintly.

She huffed, "No. You called me here to kill him. I have the letter, complete with your Flame telling me that if I killed him, I would get to be the Vongola Decimo. I have no interest in the title, and there's no chance the Nono, or the CEDEF would let that fly, never mind VARIA," she dismissed with a negligent flick of her hand. Tsuna's mouth went dry, Nono? That was the guy who wanted him to take over for him. But who were CEDEF, and the VARIA? "But one can't exactly refuse an assassination job from an Arcobaleno, can one?" she continued softly, staring down at the dark eyed baby with such a tired, cold, resigned expression that Tsuna felt a pang. Something wasn't right here. "The contract is sealed with my Flame and in the hands of an independent third party, it will be released to the Vindice should I disappear. Believe me, Arcobaleno, I'm more than a little fed up of being taken advantage of. Consider this my safety blanket."

"Y-you called her here? To kill me, or to test me?" Tsuna spluttered, his voice high as the two turned back towards him with varying expressions. Gokudera-san just looked tired and annoyed, and Reborn... well it was hard to tell.

"The Vindice are hardly going to believe your word over mine, and not a single soul would stand in your defence," he pointed out slowly, as if to a brain damaged child.

Her smile was like ice, "Oh, of that I am aware. Hence why I included the letter you sealed with your own Flame. Can't get more authentic than that, can we?" she asked silkily, making Reborn pause and narrow his eyes. "And no, you won't find out who that third party is, I made sure it would be someone you wouldn't consider, or want to fight."

"Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed, flailing.

The Hitman sighed, troublesome student. "_Yes_, I called him here," Reborn answered sharply, ignoring the glare the young woman shot him, "to test you. Though I expected more of a fight on your end. Dame-Tsuna," he scolded, launching himself off of his window sill to kick his stupid student in the face.

"Keep kicking him like that and you'll ruin what precious few braincells he still has," the girl pointed out coldly as she took a drag on her cigarette but made no move to do anything.

Reborn sniffed, "Dame-Tsuna may be dame. But his head is hard. I have to hit him to make sure what I say gets in there," he explained. Tsuna wanted to cry. That was the logic of a toddler right there! He was going to die! And it was going to be at the hands of a homicidal toddler!

The girl sighed, "Alright. Payment first though. We both know there's no chance of becoming the Decimo, and travel to Japan, plus accommodation, isn't cheap. I'll test your student, but like with any other '_job_', I want payment," she declared as she brushed her skirt off and withdrew several sticks of the same dynamite she just tried to kill him with.

Reborn huffed, "There's no point in testing him if he knows there's no danger."

The girl snorted darkly, "Oh believe me, there is danger. I'm still of the opinion I would be doing him a _favour_ if I killed him. Better dead than in the Mafia. At least _he_ has a chance of seeing Heaven, unlike us," she spat viciously glaring icily down at the dark eyed baby who went very still and stared at her with something that looked uncomfortably like pity. She clearly didn't appreciate it, given how she bristled like an offended cat, but said nothing as she turned back to Tsuna, and very purposefully lit one of the dynamite between her fingers.

"I would start running if I were you. You want to live, don't you?" she demanded before casually flicking said explosive at him.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

Reborn watched as his student scrambled off, the young Storm Potential stalking after him like a predator, lazily lighting dynamite on the cigarette between his lips. Hadn't he grown up interestingly? The Sun Arcobaleno wasn't entirely sure of what to make of the Hurricane as he had become known as – with a name like that, he had expected someone not unlike Lal in personality, rough, abrasive, aggressive, and hot tempered. A Classic Storm Polarity. What he got was a bitter mess of issues with a glacial calm attitude he remembered from only one other Storm user in his life, the Storm Arcobaleno Fon, a Reverse Polarity Storm.

But there was something cooking there. Under the surface.

He could feel it building, churning, _blistering_, against his senses as he watched the cross-dresser chase his stupid student, not even trying yet as the tense line of his jaw got tighter and tighter as he herded the brunet away from the populated areas.

"You aren't even trying," Reborn observed as he hopped across the railings at the boy's side.

Jade green eyes flicked up to him in contempt, "I thought you didn't want me to kill him?" he retorted coolly. Oh yes, there was definitely something bubbling under those eyes. His Flame, young, untapped, and so strong, was agitated to an unusual degree. What was this boy thinking? Shamal had confessed that this child was his one regret, that he had done something utterly unforgivable to him, that he had been so bright and intelligent, he had such potential, and that in his stupid blind-hate, he had probably crushed that. Ruined him.

Judging by what he had seen, Reborn could acknowledge that Shamal wasn't far wrong. This boy was at the end of his rope in more ways than one.

He wondered what would happen if he gave the kid a push?

"And I thought you were doing him a favour?" the Arcobaleno asked, but of all things, the boy snorted, a razor-like icy smile crossing his lips. He didn't say anything but his eyes darkened further and the blistering that Reborn could feel in his flame spiked out. Spiked out in a way he had only felt once or twice. Was this brat Polarizing? Switching alignments?

The rain of explosions became more forceful and sudden, Reborn twitched as he realised they were aimed now, not at Tsuna, but at objects that produced dangerous enough shrapnel that his student's clothing was being shredded, already thin red lines and splinters had struck him, the boy was practically sobbing as he fled from the vicious Storm Potential. Gokudera wasn't trying to assassinate him, the boy was torturing him. For being Vongola? For being Mafia? Or for being a civilian who was willingly stepping into a world he was trying so desperately to leave?

"Why do you hate the Mafia so much?" he couldn't help but ask – and felt it the second the boy's flame _exploded_.

"Well, why THE FUCK WOULDN'T I?!" the silver haired boy roared, throwing his dynamite hard enough to get in front of Tsuna and send him flying backwards onto his ass from the blowback of the explosion. Reborn twitched warily, readying Leon. Gokudera was grinding his teeth, an ugly red flush rising in his cheeks as he practically stomped towards Tsuna, muscles wound tighter than a spring as he practically flung more, and more, and more explosives – raining down fire and debris onto them both. He had stopped even caring about his own safety, Reborn realised as a broken piece of glass grazed the boy's cheek, slicing the skin just beneath his eye, and he didn't even blink.

"YOUR PRECIOUS FUCKING MAFIA – MY FATHER – MY SISTER – MY LIFE! WHY WOULDN'T I HATE THEM WHEN THEY TOOK **EVERYTHING** AWAY?! WHEN I SPENT YEARS COLD AND ALONE LIVING IN A FUCKING GUTTER! WHEN EVERY TIME I JOINED A FAMIGLIA I RISKED BEING TURNED INTO A SLAVE OR A SEX DOLL!" he screeched, throwing dynamite through the air without care for where they landed, his gaze locked hatefully on Reborn's terrified Student.

"I'M SO FUCKING TIRED OF THIS GODDAMN SHIT! OF BEING PULLED FROM PILLAR TO POST, OF BEING MANIPULATED, OF BEING USED AND THROWN ASIDE LIKE SO MUCH GARBAGE! OF BEING HATED FOR NO FUCKING REASON, JUST FOR EXISTING!

"OF YOUR PRECIOUS MAFIA KICKING ME IN THE TEETH IN ONE BREATH, AND TURNING AROUND TO TRY AND LURE ME IN WITH THE NEXT – ONLY TO DO IT THE FUCK AGAIN! OF EVERY BOSS WHO SMILES AT MY FACE AND PLANS HOW TO GET RID OF ME WHEN I'VE DONE WHAT THEY WANTED! JUST LIKE YOU'RE FUCKING DOING _RIGHT FUCKING NOW_!

"I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM SO MUCH I COULD FUCKING VOMIT JUST _LOOKING_ AT YOU! YOU KNOW _NOTHING_ OF WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO AND SOMEHOW YOU THINK IT'S ALL GOING TO BE OKAY – THAT YOU'LL MANAGE DESPITE BEING SO FUCKING PISSANT WEAK AND STUPID!

"WELL CONGRATU-FUCKING-LATIONS, YOU WON THE MOTHERFUCKING LOTTERY OF GENETICS MISTER DECENDENT OF THE FUCKING VONGOLA PRIMO – YOU DON'T GET TO WORRY ABOUT WHERE YOUR NEXT MEAL COMES FROM, HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF FROM YOUR OWN FAMIGLIA, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN FUCKING FATHER TRYING TO MURDER YOU, YOU GET THE BEST OF THE FUCKING BEST WATCHING YOUR BACK, YOU GET A FUCKING ARCOBALENO TO TEACH YOU, CEDEF PROTECTION ERASING YOU FROM THE MAFIA WORLD, AND YOU RUN FROM FUCKING HIGHSCHOOLERS WHO DON'T KNOW THEIR FUCKING ASSHOLES FROM THEIR ELBOWS!" the silver haired boy roared, physically launching himself at Reborn's student, bristling with explosives. Tsuna screamed, too tired to run anymore, his shaking legs unable to carry him any further – the Hurricane had run him down.

This was bad. Reborn had expected something to snap, but not like this. Gokudera flung fist loads of dynamite like confetti over his student – there was no way Tsuna could escape.

"Fight with your Dying Will!" he ordered his stupid student, the Dying Will bullet finding its target flawlessly, as always.

Tsuna felt himself go light-headed as everything faded around him, it was just a heartbeat, a still second in the world as he fell, and regretted. As he fell, and saw the rage, pain filled, and jagged broken glass expression on Gokudera-san's face.

"REBORN! PUT OUT THE FUSES WITH MY DYING WILL!"

Gokudera snarled, flinging a spray of the explosives at the half-naked Japanese teenager as he gracelessly scrambled around, smothering each of the wicks with his bare hands.

"YOU THINK THOSE BRATS ARE FRIGHTENING?! HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM MEN THREE TIMES YOUR AGE ARMED WITH KNIVES AND GUNS?!" he screamed throwing them one handful after the other.

"DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE!" he roared, grabbing them out of the air before they hit the ground.

The silver haired teen flipped his cigarette into his mouth and held up two handfuls of dynamite before he blew fire out, all of the wicks lighting at once – a moment before he flung them at Reborn's student. Now that Tsuna was in Dying Will Mode there was little to worry about, Reborn decided, watching as the cross-dresser bellowed in anger as each of the new explosives were put out by Tsuna's mad Dying Will driven scramble.

"DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE!"

Gokudera bared his teeth, "DEFUSE THIS ASSHOLE! SHRAPNEL BOMB!" he roared, pulling out the last of his stock, roughly thirty red-tipped thick Dynamite sticks with shorter than usual wicks, lighting them with the same Dragon's Breath trick he performed earlier.

"DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE! DEFUSE!"

The young Italian snarled as half of the shrapnel bombs were snuffed out. She lunged forward, if bombs weren't going to do it then her _bare hands would_!

Reborn arched an eyebrow as the crossdresser lunged at his student, abandoning the explosives that his student was snuffing out.

"YOU'D THINK I'D DONE SOMETHING COMPLETELY REPREHENSIBLE! THAT I WAS THE REINCARNATION OF HITLER WITH THE WAY THEY ACTED! AS IF I WERE THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD! AS IF THERE WERE SOMETHING _WRONG_ WITH ME!

"IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME?!" he screamed as he slammed into the smaller Japanese youth, shoving him backwards into the wall, cocking a fist back and slamming it hard enough for there to be a crack heard – breaking his own knuckle as he smashed it into Dame-Tsuna's face.

Tsuna roared, throwing the silver haired boy away, sending him spinning and slamming into the ground several feet away – into the middle of a circle of his own explosives.

Green eyes widened.

And then closed in resignation.

Not enough time to escape.

A bitter smile crossed her face.

Death by explosion, again, how hilariously ironic.

"DYING WILL CHANGE! SAVE GOKUDERA-SAN WITH MY DYING WILL!"

Reborn felt his eyebrow shoot up as he watched, Tsuna shouldn't be at any kind of point in his training, his Flame receptivity, or physical/mental ability to change his Dying Will purpose just yet. He hadn't even opened his Hyper Intuition, or the Hyper Dying Will Mode that the Vongola Famiglia were so well known for.

Even so, he watched his Student throw the dynamite in his hands aside and make for the fallen boy on the ground, arms going around his back and legs – scooping the taller boy off the ground bridal style, prompting a startled girlish squeak, as he sped out of the exploding Dynamite.

Tsuna gasped as the Dying Will flickered out, all his strength leaving him as he stumbled forward, weighed down, and fell. Gokudera-san hitting the ground with Tsuna sprawling on top of her, the girl yelping in alarm as her back and bottom were roughly introduced to the concrete.

"What- why – ?" she spluttered, puling herself up onto her elbows as Tsuna sprawled across her stomach, shaking and panting.

"You're – you're wrong. There's – there's nothing wrong with Gokudera-san," he told her as firmly as he could, even as he shook like a terrified chihuahua, barely having enough strength to push himself onto his hands and knees.

"You – you don't even know me! You can't just decide that on your own," she protested.

Tsuna shook his head, "I-I know that you're hurting! And that you're angry, and so very, _very_ sad!" he told her, "But there's nothing wrong with you!"

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!" she screamed, shoving him off of her, breath hitching with the threatening onslaught of tears. She hiccuped and drew her knees up to her chest with a heavy sigh. "I'm just... tired. So very tired of being hated," she whispered, her voice cracking as she placed a hand over her eyes and shook.

"Gokudera-san..." Tsuna whispered, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"I'm a man," she suddenly said, not looking at him, or moving her hand. He froze, hand outstretched, what?

"Physically. I have all the parts of a man. But my mind... that's all female. My thoughts, my feelings, the things I like, the things I don't like. I have the heart, mind, and reasoning of a woman. But I'm trapped in the wrong body," she – he – she(?) explained, voice heavy with exhaustion and forced apathy. Tsuna swallowed uncertainly, his hand dropping. "Do you know how many people hate me because of this? How many want me dead?" she laughed bitterly and this time Tsuna _did_ see tears track their way down her cheeks and felt an uncomfortable clench in the pit of his stomach.

She bit out a sad laugh, "Twelve Famiglias. Twelve. I ran away when I was eight. I couldn't find anywhere to live, I spent a year on the streets trying to make things work but it just _wouldn't_. I swallowed my pride and went back to the Mafia, looking for someone, anyone, who would hire me. Even if it was just basic messenger work. But... of the twelve Famiglias I tried... eight said no, outright. Two took me in, slaved me out. Do you know how devastating that is for a nine-year-old?" She laughed again and pushed down one of the wrist guards on her arm, revealing neat rows of ancient scars. Scars that ran horizontally, in thick patches across her forearm. He felt a chill in his blood. Self-harming scars. "One family took me in for a time, on the understanding that if I performed well on a particular job they would take me on permanently. Then they found out what I was. As soon as the job was done, I got stabbed in the back. Literally stabbed." She trembled violently, hiding her face in her knees.

"Six years... Six years of being rejected. Of voice after voice telling me that I should have never existed, that I was disgusting, an accident, garbage. That I should have been aborted. Thousands of men and women rejecting my very existence. And then there's you, sitting here, telling me that there's _nothing_ wrong with me." She laughed, brittle and filled with pain. "My own father couldn't accept me, wouldn't accept me. He would have rather used my mentally unstable sister to murder me than give me a chance. What do you know about me, Sawada Tsunayoshi? What kind of judgement can _you_ make, Dame-Tsuna?" she demanded, looking up at him with wet accusing eyes.

What _could_ he say to that?

That what she had been told was wrong? That they were the ones who were disgusting and horrible, that she never should have been forced to listen to that? That there really _was_ nothing wrong with her? Even though she so clearly didn't believe him, however much she desperately wanted to?

She closed her eyes and huffed another bitter laugh as she got to her feet.

"See? Even someone as pathetic as you thinks my existence is disgusting," she declared, roughly wiping her face. "That's fine. I don't need, or want, yours, or anyone else's approval," she lied as she turned and began to walk away. "We'll talk payment later, Arcobaleno, you know where I'm stay- "

Tsuna grabbed her hand.

"I don't think you're disgusting," he told her as she turned to glare at him. She froze at his words, eyes widening and mouth dropping open slightly, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "It doesn't matter. You having the body of a man. Why should it?" he asked, large brown eyes peering into jade green. "You're just different. There's nothing _wrong_ with you. So what if you have man parts? You were born that way. Just like you were born with pale skin, or green eyes. Like I was born with brown hair. It doesn't _matter_. They're wrong. I'll say it as much as I have to, there's _nothing_ wrong with you, Gokudera-san!" he told her as strongly as he could as he got to his feet and held the taller girl's shoulders. "I'll prove it, if I have to! If I have to follow you every day. I will. There's _nothing_ wrong with you."

She spluttered, trying to take a step away from him, "You – follow – why – why do you care? What do you want?" she demanded, sounding frightened as she tried to take another step back, feeling her stomach flip and clench at the sight of amber-brown glowing eyes.

Tsuna frowned opening his mouth a moment, closed it and then, "I want to be Gokudera-san's friend," he said, almost as if the realisation confused him as much as it did her. It was perhaps the first time in his life that Tsuna wanted to befriend someone. A feeling that he _had_ to do this, that he wanted to enough to put himself out there because – because – Gokudera-san was too scared to reach out herself. So he had to reach for her.

"I just tried to kill you!" she objected, yanking herself away, hopping back several paces, "I – I'm a boy who wears skirts and thinks like a girl! I – I smoke, I drink, I cut myself – I'm an emotional wreck with so many issues it's ridiculous! I'm – I – I don't – I'm a terrible person! I've _killed_ people!" she objected frantically, confused and shaking her head.

Tsuna grimaced at that last one and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm pretty terrible too," he admitted quietly, smiling self-depreciatingly. "I'm stupid, I'm bad at sports, I don't pick up after myself, I'm selfish, and lazy, not to mention weak and easily frightened. But still, despite all those things you said, I still want to be Gokudera-san's friend."

Her breath caught as she shook her head, not wanting to listen.

"Ara? Oh no, no, no, these guys are cutting class!" a voice interrupted, causing Tsuna to stiffen and yelp in fright. Oh no, it was the Seniors! The ones he ran away from earlier!

The one he bumped into grinned, "This requires some punishment," he leered at them.

"You're only allowed to cut starting Senior Year!" the one in the back, with the gaudy necklace decreed.

"How many front teeth do you want broken?" the one in the hat giggled as he tapped his baseball bat on his shoulder. The three of them eyeing Tsuna with amusement. "Actually, I think I'll just break your face anyway, getting naked around a hot girl like the new student – you're makin' me jealous!"

"Why don't you come with us, Ojochan, we'll show you what a real man looks like," the one with the tattoos down his arm 'suggested', sidling up beside the silver haired girl who grimaced and leaned away from him.

Tsuna swallowed, too scared to say anything but stiffening in anger when he saw the way the older boy was eyeing the still shaken girl.

Then he placed a hand on her rear-end, giving one of her butt-cheeks a hard squeeze.

She went stiff, and her face flooded with colour as the Senior cackled.

"PERVERT!"

**BOOM**

Reborn hid a grin as he sat atop the near-by streetlamp as the silver haired Italian rained fiery death down on the delinquents with a wrath that he had only seen coming from female hitmen. There was no way, with a reaction like that, she could have been lying. Any man that laid a hand upon a female assassin's rump like that had best be prepared for a short, brutal, and messy death.

Or just to have several dynamite thrown into their faces as they get kicked up and down the playground like a football.

That kind of wrath could only come from a woman, no matter _what_ kind of body she was in.

Still, wasn't Dame-Tsuna an interesting development today?

It was the first time he had felt his stupid student's Flame react, wake up enough to take note of what was around him. Perhaps because it was because Reborn had hit him with the Dying Will Bullet earlier, but Tsuna's flame had noticed the young Storm not too far from him and actively made grabby hand motions toward her. His stupid student had actively reached out, emotionally, to his first true Family member. Whether that was because he wanted her for his Famiglia, or as a young Sky he could _feel_ her Flame blistering and cracking with her own depression and loneliness, and instinctively reached out to sooth her distress, Reborn didn't know.

But it resulted in the first of Tsuna's Famiglia joining them.

True, he hadn't intended on the Hurricane joining them. Too much negative information floating around. He had merely called the girl over so he could get an impression of Tsuna's combat methods against a preplanned opponent of the same age, with full awareness of the Mafia. And while he would never let his student know, he had been _thoroughly_ impressed with his young Student. Almost as much as he had been annoyed by him.

Instead of fighting, his stupid student merely removed the threat of Hurricane's weaponry, instead of the girl herself. At least until they both felt the crack in her flame – until Tsuna wiped away her anger, and drew her to him as a Sky.

Turned his enemy into his ally. Brought her into his Family.

He huffed a short laugh, there was a lot of potential in his stupid student, but it was going to take a lot to bring it out, he decided, watching as Gokudera-chan casually stripped one of the Seniors and threw his clothes at Tsuna, telling him gruffly to get dressed before trying to make her retreat.

"I'll see you tomorrow... right?" Tsuna called after her, making the girl pause in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder with one of the most complex facial expressions Reborn had ever seen before, very hesitantly, she nodded.

"I... Y-yes. Tomorrow," she admitted, flushing and turning away when Tsuna lit up happily.

She quickly ran away, and Reborn chuckled.

'_Family Acquired._'

_**000**_

**Yes, I'm quite aware that of the twelve families, Hayato only brought up eleven. The last one will be addressed later. It does have plot relevance.**

**Also, yeah, this chapter was both happy and not. I rewrote a fair bit of it because I didn't like the original. It just didn't read right. This time, the characters practically hijacked the whole thing themselves. I know Gokudera is in no way In Character, but that's because we're talking about Aya. Tsuna though, I hope he did come across as In Character, specifically, in the full grips of 'I am Sky'/Shounen Protagonist mode. There won't be many 'woobie' episodes with Aya like this. She's generally a lot more self-contained and yes, while she does have depression, she isn't self-harming or suicidal anymore. Again, refers to Unmentioned Family, and the Unknown Third Party she left Reborn's missive with. This very important person helped her a great deal. And yes, this person will be involved in later chapters. Though perhaps not soon.**

**Hope you've enjoyed the story thus far. Again, I know it's not very accurate, and I'm sorry if it offends. It's just an entertainment piece, and I know I got somethings wrong.**

Also, geez, bit surprised and irritated by the number of people who have laid into me on the 'Slash/Het... kinda?' note. There is absolutely pleasing no one, is there?

I put it as het, I get people bitching at me about tricking them into reading slash because both characters have dicks. I put it as slash and I get people bitching at me because its not politically correct because regardless of Aya's genitals she's got a female brain. I put it as BOTH slash and het, I get people bitching at me for BOTH THOSE REASONS and then calling me disrespectful for it. 8/ some people were really nice and just gently corrected me, but some were really quite rude about it.

I pretty much said in the first chapter I don't hang with the rabid Tumblr PC crowd, and already said that I wouldn't understand a lot of the struggles and issues that would be present because I'm just not in that position so don't expect accuracy or any kind of political statement, I'm writing it because I want to and it seems interesting. My little brother is more familiar, as he's going female to male, but not getting hormone or surgery treatments (big baby is scared of needles lol). So I know SOME of it. But quite frankly, I don't give a shit. If I have no intention of getting into your underwear I don't give a flying fuck on a bicycle what is happening in there. What I care about is whether or not you've seen the latest episode of One Piece so we can properly gush about it without giving Spoilers.

**Long story short if you don't care to read all that: **Don't lay into me over a little confusion on the Tumblr labelling system and trying not to step on anyone's toes. I'm not perfect. But I am trying and some of the comments I got before I deleted them were downright malicious and hurtful.


	3. C3- Mortification

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER THREE  
Mortification**

I wanted to drown myself.

I – I snapped and said all those horrible things – I cried – I even... Oh god, I even resigned myself to dying. No I _let_ – I didn't want to move when I saw all of the explosives around me. I was fast enough to escape them. I could have gotten far enough away that the explosion would have been nothing more than a shockwave that knocked me over, or let me jump further if I timed it right. But... I hadn't wanted to.

I ducked down in the hot bathwater. Dunking my whole head under, squeezing my eyes shut, and holding my breath. Trying to block the memories of that horrible afternoon out of my head.

The whole situation had gotten me wound up right from the word go. I knew when I was being used, so many fucking years of it had given me a sixth sense, I couldn't sleep last night. I just kept stewing over it. I was in a foul mood by the time I reached Namimori Middle yesterday. I planned on giving Sawada a good scare for his money, make it look like I was going to try and kill him like Reborn ordered, throw around a few dynamite, and then leave. Make it clear that Reborn should lose my contact details as soon as we had settled on payment, see if I couldn't vanish into Tokyo and make my own way in life. If anything I could get away with teaching music, or English as a foreign language, even Italian, or Mandarin, or even Russian – with how intelligent Hayato was in the canon, I made a point of studying my ass off, if only so I could live up to him in memory, in some small way. I had, after all, stolen his life. If that didn't work, I could always return to China, there was a place for me there, tenuous as it was.

But the longer I spent talking to him, manipulating him into letting his guard down, the more bitter I felt. The more irritated that this soft, trusting, careless creature was so willingly letting his guard down around someone from the Mafia, someone he didn't know, simply because they _presented_ a harmless, almost nice, façade toward him. It made me angry. Because I had fallen for that as well. And came off all the worse for it.

Then Reborn showed up and had the _gall_ to try and – my lungs burned and I surfaced from the bath, gasping for air.

He picked me apart.

The longer I spent with them the more hopeless and helpless I felt, the angrier I was, until... it wasn't even _them_ that I was seeing in front of me. But it was the faces of all those men and women who turned away from me. Until it was my father, the Famiglias, _him_, until I just stopped caring and wanted to _hurt_ them. I didn't care who they were, that it was Sawada Tsunayoshi, who had nothing to do with the Mafia beyond a blood relation he didn't even acknowledge, or the Sun Arcobaleno Reborn, who could quite easily squash me like a bug. I just wanted to _hurt_ them.

Hurt them like I had been hurt. I didn't even care if I got myself killed. In fact... it would have been all the better.

I had completely gone off on one. Dumped my life's story on them like some tantrum throwing melodramatic emo Princess. Bitching about how hard her life was when there were a hundred, a thousand, a _million_ other boys and girls her age and younger suffering even more than I could imagine. '_You can't understand me – I'm so tortured and depressed because I'm a special and unique snowflake_'. I wanted to crawl into a hole, looking back at that fight.

And then Sawada had just -

I dunked myself back under the water and covered my face with my hands, already feeling the blush burning across my cheeks.

He just blew through everything.

The rage, the hate, the hurt. He shut it all down like a knife through hot butter.

I told him everything, almost, and he just... it didn't matter, he didn't care. He knew I had all the anatomy and equipment of a man, yet my brain, my thought-processes and responses were all female and he just... didn't care. It didn't matter. All of a sudden, everything... I... I didn't know what to think. I still don't.

How could it not matter?

My whole life it had mattered.

And suddenly... it just didn't?

I felt... lost.

My gender difficulties had never been something of an issue for _myself_. It was just a thing. I knew what was wrong, what caused it, why I felt the way I did. I was a female mind, in a male body. Aggie had been very settled in and of herself at twenty six when she died, and yes, there was confusion, upset, discomfort, and all those other ugly tangled emotions when she found herself as a five year old little boy. But she had, had years to figure it out afterwards. At least until Shamal happened. That was all there was to it, and for me? There was no argument about whether or not I was to act female, or act male. I was going to be myself. I was going to wear whatever the hell I wanted, speak however I wanted, _act_ like _me_. I was both and yet neither. Having a male body didn't matter to me beyond how uncomfortable it felt at times – the bonuses being no more wasting as much money on bras (it felt weird to go without, plus the nicest panties came with bra sets so, why not?), or having to worry about periods and cramps. The downsides being the random erections for no discernible reason (groin guards were a life-saver), the hair that grew unlike anything (thank god that I inherited most of my mother's genetics, I didn't have to worry about hair on my chest or back, or even having it be particularly thick, but still, goddamn, it grew _fast_, yeti legs like you wouldn't believe after a few days without shaving), and having body odour being a lot more noticeable.

But for everyone else... It was huge. Earth-shattering. Everyone had an opinion on it, everyone had something to say, everyone _cared_. And not in a good way. Unanimously. _Unanimously_, they thought it made me lesser, made me inhuman, subhuman, scum. Not worth the air I breathed. It got me stabbed, it got me beaten. I went cold, hungry, I bled, and cried, and cradled my bruises. I took a blade to my arm just so I could feel like I had _some_ control in my life, just so I could let out my pain, my anger. So I could focus on something that wasn't the hurt and loneliness, that gnawing betrayal and growing self-loathing that churned in my gut. I suppose it affected me a great deal more because as Aggie, I had never really treated badly, and now, suddenly, I was the focus of such vitriolic disgust and hatred. It was pretty traumatising.

I surfaced and rubbed at my face again.

I was still embarrassed about earlier, but I was getting dizzy and light headed from being in the bath for too long – _and_ dunking myself in there in order to hide from my embarrassment.

"You chose a nice place, Gokudera Hayato."

I screamed.

And promptly ducked down into the water up to my chin, knees drawn up and hands over my chest so all he could see were the tops of my knees and my head.

"REBORN! GET OUT!" I screeched, grabbing the near-by wash cloth and lobbing it at him.

"What's the problem? You have nothing I haven't seen before," the Arcobaleno pointed out, grinning as he ducked the towel.

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN I WANT YOU SEEING IT, YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!" I bellowed, throwing the washing bucket at him next.

"_Ano, Gokudera-san? Is everything alright?_" one of the Ryokan stewardesses enquired from outside – they were all aware that I had privacy concerns and attended the baths when no one else did because of them, but they were polite enough to respect that.

"_I-it – I just – I think he's gone now. I'm sorry for disturbing everyone. There was a peeper,_" I called back, glaring at the little Arcobaleno whose grin widened even further.

"_Ah, how terrible! I'm so sorry, Gokudera-san! I will inform the management immediately!_" the stewardess exclaimed and quickly bustled off. Not surprising. If there was a peeping tom spying on their customers then no one would want to use their facilities, they would lose business.

"You – just turn around so I can get out, asshole," I hissed, blushing hard as the Arcobaleno did just that. I eyed him suspiciously and grabbed my towel wrapping it around me as I climbed out – not letting him get a look at _anything_, even by accident, or on purpose if he really were looking. Of all things – some gentleman, feh. Creepy pervert. Surely he was in his fifties by this point, what the hell was he doing creeping into the bath when he knew an underage individual was currently naked and bathing? He had to have been at least his late twenties, early thirties when he was first an Arcobaleno. Ergo, when Luce gave birth. Aria passed away in the intervening years between canon and Ten-Years-Later with Byakuran roughly between her mid-twenties to early thirties. Yuni supposedly travelled back in time.

A fifty year old man sneaking into the baths. Ugh.

Wait.

Hadn't Cornello joined Kyoko in the bath once?

_**That disgusting little rat! She was **__**thirteen**__**!**_

I stepped back into the changing area and dressed in my yukata and underwear quickly, leaving my hair piled on top of my head in the towel as I slid open the door and returned to my room – a public bath hall was no place for whatever conversation Reborn wanted. And of course, he was sat waiting for me on my own futon.

"You have no manners," I complained as I closed and locked the door behind me. "What do you want?" I asked as I sat down at the low table and poured myself a cup of the pomegranate green tea I requested earlier. Grudgingly, I poured him one as well, Aggie was raised with _manners_, thank you very much.

Reborn sat opposite me and took a sip of his tea, expression twitching a little in surprise before he took a second sip and set the cup down, "To talk about what happened earlier today," he admitted and I couldn't help the flush that crawled across my face as I looked away, out of the window, that irritating fluttery feeling back in the pit of my stomach.

"I will contact my third party tomorrow and have them destroy the letter," I assured him in a small voice, guessing that he was going to rip into me about that little fail-safe of mine.

"Thank you. But it wasn't just that. Payment, as well as what happens next, needs to be discussed," he pointed out bluntly, and I couldn't help but hunch in on myself defensively. Here it came. The '_Get out of town or I'll put a bullet in your head_' ultimatum. "In terms of payment, you're quite correct in that the Vongola would never accept an Outsider becoming their Tenth Generation's head. I've already contacted the Nono, and payment, not only of your travel expenses and accommodation, but also the cost of equipment used and the services rendered have been totalled. Finance just needs your details before an Invoice can be issued," he explained as he slid over a slip of paper with a list.

_Plane Flight - £3,000  
Taxi fare - £80  
Accommodation (three weeks) - £750  
Equipment: Standard Grade C Dynamite x30 - £360  
Standard Grade A Shrapnel Dynamite x10 - £500  
Services rendered (Combat and Psychological testing of Decimo Candidate ST) - £1000_

_Total: £5690_

I nodded at the list, it sounded reasonable. As odd as it sounded, the Flame Active Famiglias worked in Pounds Sterling more often than they did in US-Dollars, or even the Euro, simply because its value in the Underground did not change drastically – unlike the Euro, which never got a foothold, and the Dollar which changed more often than a prostitute did her underwear.

"Do you have a pen?" I asked and accepted the Leon-Fountain pen handed to me without comment. I quickly scribbled the details of an empty bank account I set up for payments such as this (I would have it moved quickly enough at a later date into my real bank account). I slid the paper back over and Leon returned to his normal form in my hand – I couldn't stop myself from petting him a little bit before I handed him back, he was so cute, even if his eyes were creepily moving in different directions.

"As for today," Reborn began, only to cut himself off as I lifted a hand.

"You don't have to say anything. I'll be gone by the end of my stay here. I won't corrupt your student," I told him with a bitter twist of my mouth.

"I'm afraid, you're part of Tsuna's Family now. You can't just up and leave," the Sun Arcobaleno pointed out reasonably as he sipped his tea. I, however, flinched as if he shot a bullet in my direction.

"Don't toy with me, Reborn. We both know that the Vongola wouldn't tolerate someone like me near their last true heir," I reminded him quietly.

"One of Xanxus's top operatives is very similar to you," he reminded me, Lussuria.

I scoffed, "Xanxus is no more related to the Nono than I am. And Lussuria is nothing like me in terms of mentality. He doesn't have a different gender to his sex. He simply enjoys being camp and effeminate," I pointed out softly. I could have gone at length into character analysis, typically about offensive cultural stereotyping (and let's face it, Lussuria is nothing _but_ an offensive stereotype, at least in the comic. Perhaps he was more developed in this reality?), but that would reveal far too much personal information that I shouldn't have had access to.

Reborn leaned back in his seat, "So you don't believe Xanxus is related to the Nono?" he questioned curiously.

I scoffed, "He's about as brutal as the Secundo, just as short tempered, and even wields the same Flame. His concern is for the Vongola and the Vongola alone. In terms of leadership, most would consider him ideal. He has the training, he has the know how, even if he doesn't have the attitude. But being the Top Hitman, as well as Independent Home Tutor, you could have quite easily beaten that out of him. So why didn't Nono ask you to? Simple, he knows the Vongola rings will reject him. He doesn't have the bloodline. He cannot lead. Hence why he's throwing all his hopes onto Tsuna. Though why he doesn't kick Iemitsu in the head and tell him to sack up and take some responsibility instead of offloading it onto his son who wants to remain a civilian, I will never know."

I sipped my drink, really, if any of these Mafioso used an ounce of common sense, so many of their stupid little problems and secrets would be easily resolved. Logic dictates, thus reason must follow. It _wasn't_ rocket science!

"If the Nono has any issue with your presence, I'll vouch for you," Reborn suddenly declared, and I very nearly choked on my drink. Having to set it down and cough into my hand.

"I – I beg your pardon?" I coughed, flabbergasted.

Reborn sipped his drink lazily, watching me with a coal bright eye, "If the Nono has issue with your presence around Sawada Tsunayoshi, I will vouch for you. It wasn't my intention for you to join the Family when I called you here, but the fact that Tsuna himself reached out for you is telling enough." I went scarlet as memories of the afternoon flooded back, and I practically had to hide my face in my sleeves. Oh god, it was so embarrassing! (And even worse was that I couldn't help but think Tsuna had... actually been kind of cool. AND THAT FELT WRONG! I was a woman well into her thirties now with all the cumulative years I had! It – ugh!) "You have the intelligence, the combat prowess, and the drive. You've seen the worst the Mafia has to offer, and the best. You can guide Tsuna on his own level and aid him in ways that I can't. Tsuna has already given you the acceptance you crave. Why would you want to leave?" Reborn asked.

Because there was a very high chance I would die? Because my sister would be arriving soon? Because you would call Shamal over eventually to deal with the onset of Tsuna's Skullitis? Because of the VARIA ring battles around the corner? Being forced to tangle with almost all of the Arcobaleno? Getting dragged into their business? Rokudo Mukurou? The Millefiore? The Shimon?

"Because... I don't want to be betrayed again," I finally said, not looking up as I stared down at my tea. Reborn reached over and patted my hand.

"You won't be. Tsuna isn't that kind of guy."

No. I suppose he wasn't.

_**000**_

I looked like an idiot.

I was stood outside the door to Class 1-A, shifting from foot to foot, too nervous to actually walk in. I could hear Nezu-sensei handing out the test results from yesterday but I – Tsuna was in there. I – I couldn't go in. My face was _burning_.

I had come in early this morning and gone to the office to speak with one of the Senseis. Since I was a foreign National I was ineligible for the Student Bursary, I was paying for everything out of my own pocket. Which meant I needed a part-time job. Explaining my circumstances to my Senseis, in particular that I was estranged from my father, and thus had no financial support, I hoped to apply for permission to work part-time after school hours, in order to afford accommodation and food. They were a little wary, Japan was very education conscious, however, the simple fact that I actually needed the job in order to avoid becoming homeless and starving to death swayed them into giving me permission. By the time the paperwork was filled out, a note made in my record, first period had already begun.

Thus leaving me here. Stood outside 1-A, trying to scrape together the courage to walk into the same room as the boy I tried to kill yesterday.

Embarrassed was _not_ a strong enough word for what I currently felt.

But I knew that if I lurked around here long enough a member of the Disciplinary Committee would catch me, and getting flirted at was not want I particularly wanted to deal with today. Never mind if it were Hibari and he decided I needed to be bitten to death. A fight was also not what I wanted to deal with today. I was still an emotional mess from yesterday.

I could hear laughter and took a deep breath.

You're a grown ass woman, Aya. Suck it up and stop being such a little bitch.

I opened the door and stepped inside before I lost my nerve.

"Hey! You're late, Young Lady! What're you doing coming in at this time?" Nezu-sensei snapped from the front of the class, slamming his hand on the desk.

I grimaced, teachers had a hard enough job as it was without delinquents interrupting, however, given what I knew about this man, I had very little respect for him to begin with. "My apologies, Sensei. I was in the main office sorting out some last minute paperwork with Ine-sensei," I explained with a short bow, "I apologise for my tardiness."

Nezu grumbled but let me go to my seat – downside was that as all the seats were alphabetical... I had to pass Tsuna in order to get to my seat. I felt my cheeks flush as I ducked my head and marched past him, unable to look at him.

But – that was unfair. To him especially. I couldn't just ignore him. Not after yesterday.

I had tried to kill him.

So...

I turned around, and, still without looking at him, I bowed formally at the waist, "I'm sorry for yesterday, Sawada-san," I managed to get out, ignoring the whispers that erupted around me as I quickly retreated to my desk, desperately wishing the ground with rise and swallow me whole. I could have timed that better. Why had I decided to do that _right_ then? Couldn't it have waited until after class, somewhere private? No – I wouldn't have been able to escape afterwards.

I swallowed and continued my work, keeping my head down and determinedly _not_ looking in Sawada's direction. I was mortified.

The moment the bell rung for the end of class I was _out_.

I bought several snacks at the Vending Machines and sat quietly next to the bike-sheds, where it was quiet, to eat them before retreating to the library where I would hopefully not be bothered by gossip mongers, or Hitmen.

It was too much to hope for though. I managed to find a Chemistry book that looked interesting, and get myself comfortable on one of the seats and then suddenly Reborn was peering over my shoulder and commenting on how my reading material seemed to be below my level. Well of course it was. However, this one was about chemical compounds and how they mixed. Ergo, potential ideas for explosives using different chemicals and compounds found in regular places. Such as cleaning supplies, medicines, etc, etc.

"You're avoiding Dame-Tsuna, why?" the Arcobaleno finally asked, a sly glint in his eye suggesting that he already had a pretty fair idea as to why. I flushed again, slouching down in my seat as I stared down at the Japanese characters with more interest than a textbook of this level would warrant.

"I... It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed. After yesterday. I can't look him in the eye," I admitted covering my face with both hands, feeling my face flame with mortification.

The Sun Arcobaleno smirked and hopped over my shoulder to land in my lap, "It's not surprising. You seem to be particularly weak to Sky Attraction. Not uncommon in individuals who have been rejected by society," he explained, making me frown in confusion. Sky Attraction? The hell was that?

"What?"

Dark eyes craned up to stare at me as he flipped through one of the pages in my chemistry book, "Sky Attraction. You're weak to it," he repeated, as if it made a single lick of sense.

But... thinking about it...

"So... Because Tsuna has a Sky Flame... I feel like this?" I asked warily. There was nothing mentioned about it in the manga, and That Person never mentioned it either and they were the one who taught me about Flames, the basics. Was this a more high-level thing? If so, how was Tsuna, who couldn't even touch his Dying Will without Reborn's assistance, doing it?

Reborn hummed, "You're unfamiliar with the make-up of a Famiglia, aren't you? I'm surprised. Given how your sister was Scouted to be a Guardian to one of Nono's sons, I would have assumed you were included on her lessons," he admitted, making me freeze up. There had been lessons that Bianchi had attended that I wasn't allowed to listen in on. Which, again, wasn't unusual. I was a full three years younger than her, and I was being groomed to live a civilian life, all mafia business was spoken in undertones over my head, or behind my back. My father wanted me as unaware of it as possible. At least until Shamal let loose my secret.

"Bianchi was being taught how to use her Flame?" I asked curiously. Perhaps that was why her mind began to fracture? She was too young, not yet ready? Or did she have a secondary Mist Attribute that messed with her perception of the world around her? It would explain how she turned everything around her to Poison Cooking even though she hadn't touched it. I knew she was Storm from the manga volumes I had read, but if Hayato could have multiple Flame resonations, why couldn't Bianchi? Mist Flames were all about altering perception, Aggie had theorised idly that Classical Mist users, such as Mukurou, lied to the world around them, while polarized users like Kyoko and Nana lied to themselves. Perhaps Bianchi had lied to herself?

"Sky Attraction is the pull, between a Sky and their Guardians," Reborn explained, hopping out of his place in my lap (and really, it took a lot of effort not to shove him off). "Flame Actives are a lot more instinctive than normal humans. Instinctively, those with the potential to use their Flames will be drawn to Tsuna, like sharks to the smell of fresh blood." I grimaced at the... colourful, analogy. He couldn't have just used '_moths to the flame_', could he? He was a Hitman after all. "It's why Tsuna has such a bully problem. They're drawn to him, but he rejects them. But they keep coming back because they're still drawn to him. In your case, he reached for you. What you're feeling is the desire to join him. It isn't sexual attraction, but your Flame, your instincts, you want to be at his side to protect him. He gives you a place to belong as a Sky, and as a Storm, you protect him from that which would cause harm. Just like yesterday," he added with a grin as I grimaced thinking back on those perverted Seniors.

But still. None of this stuff was explained in the Manga.

"You haven't told this to Tsuna, have you?" I asked, guessing that he hadn't.

Reborn shook his head, confirming it. "Tsuna is very much like my last student, the now Head of the Cavallone. When I told Dino, he panicked, believing that he was putting his Guardians under some form of Flame based Mind Control. He very nearly rejected his Flame and sealed himself. We cannot risk the same thing happening to Tsuna, whose Flame has already been sealed before as a child. If he rejected his Flame, he would end up like his mother, or worse."

Hmm... Given how Tsuna was the last of the Vongola bloodline... Unless Iemitsu stepped up, but that was unlikely. Though I could see him 'suggesting' to Nana that Tsuna would benefit from having a younger sibling if that happened. Bastard. Like his mother or worse though? Did that mean Nana had a sealed Flame too?

"I'll explain everything to you properly later tonight. I informed Maman that I would be bringing a guest to dinner tonight, so you'd better show up," he added with a narrow stare at me.

I froze, and blanched.

Dinner?

At – at Tsuna's?

I shook my head, "I – I – "

Reborn rolled his eyes and tugged on a strand of my hair, "You'll be fine. Tsuna doesn't care about what you have in your panties. Just that you're his friend. Stupid Student. Just come. Eat. Talk. Or sit in the corner. Either way, as long as you're there," he told me flatly, giving my hair another tug before jumping over my shoulder and vanishing.

I shuddered.

I was doomed.

_**000**_

**Hee, I never pegged this character to be so adorable. But she is. Fuckin' hell. **


	4. C4- A Beginning

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER FOUR  
A Beginning **

Tsuna felt miserable.

Gokudera-chan had avoided him all day, looking embarrassed and upset, not even daring to look at him as she made her hasty retreat after lunch, arriving back last to class, sliding into her seat just as the Sensei came in. Preventing him from speaking to her. On top of that, her apology that morning had set the rumour mill blazing. Everyone was now under the impression that he had confessed to her, and she had turned him down, and felt bad for doing so. The girls were whispering behind their hands about how despicable he was, confessing to Kyoko only a few short weeks ago only to immediately turn around, as soon as she arrived, confess to another girl.

Tsuna felt miserable.

Because, what if Kyoko-chan believed it? What if she thought he liked Gokudera-chan more than her?

N-not that he had anything against Gokudera-chan! B-but! Kyoko-chan... She was more his type. Her smile was the sole reason he came to school most days of a year! If not for Kyoko-chan's sweet smile, her purity, he would have probably been held back another year through simply skipping school too much. Perhaps even been moved down a class ranking.

"Stop moping, Stupid Tsuna!" Reborn commanded, tiny foot impacting against his jaw. He backflipped off his student's face and landed on the silver haired girl's shoulder, settling himself back down, and smirking at the boy as he hit the ground and flailed for a bit, like a turtle flipped onto its back, before managing to sit up, clutching his cheek and wailing.

"REBORN! WHAT WAS THAT FO- Gokudera-chan!" he squawked, spotting the girl who had been avoiding him all day. She flushed and looked away, Reborn perched cheerfully on her shoulder as she twisted the hem of her skirt awkwardly, shuffling her feet. Tsuna quickly scrambled to his feet, "I uh I..." he trailed off, words abandoning him. He didn't know what to say now.

They stood in awkward silence, neither quite sure what to say, or how to speak to one another.

Reborn rolled his eyes, "I invited Gokudera to dinner tonight. There are some things that need to be explained," he declared.

"Things?! What things?!" Tsuna squawked, flapping his arms as Reborn tugged on Gokudera-chan's hair and pointed her in the direction of his house, the girl looking a little uncertain but going as she was directed.

"Her role within the Family, how it relates to you, the situation with the Vongola. It needs to be explained, along with other specifics," the Sun Arcobaleno explained as they left the school, Tsuna chasing after them, flailing in alarm. Reborn huffed, "Do you not want Gokudera-chan to stay?" he asked slyly.

Tsuna immediately shut up, but he still looked like he was having a heart attack.

The girl stopped suddenly and faced him, "Sawada-san, I've been in the Mafia since I was eight. Bouncing from Famiglia to Famiglia, and never really wanted. If you're concerned with my joining the Vongola, don't be."

"But – but you could finally get away! Isn't that what you wanted? To leave?" he asked frantically, confused.

She shook her head (she still wouldn't look at him), "What I wanted more than anything was to be accepted. Now I have," she explained, shrugging a shoulder as jade green eyes flicked up to his face and then turned away just as quickly, "Only one other person has ever accepted me after knowing everything. And I owe him a debt I can never repay. But, I can pay you back. The Mafia world... you have a foot in the door, Sawada-san, you'll need someone to hold it open so it doesn't break it off. That's where people like me come in, Family, Guardians," she continued as they began to walk once more, heading in the direction of Tsuna's house.

"B-but! I don't want to _be_ a Mafia Boss!" Tsuna wailed.

"I know. But at this point... You are the only one who can. Unless you're okay with the idea of a younger sibling being born solely for the cause of stepping into the Underworld," she pointed out ruthlessly, making Tsuna freeze in place for a moment. Reborn has said that there were no other candidates for the Tenth, that the previous candidates had all been assassinated, so his family line was the only one left. If he refused... would they really make his family have another baby _just_ to have their – his eyes slid over to Reborn. Reborn who was already considered the world's greatest hitman, while still wearing a diaper, Reborn who wandered around with guns that were illegal in Japan, Reborn who thought the answer to all of Tsuna's problems came with dying, and fighting, and bullets.

They would.

If he refused, they _would_ force/trick his mother into having another baby for them.

"Tsuna, stop." A pair of hands landed on his shoulders, giving him a short shake. He shuddered looking up into jade green eyes. "Stop thinking like that. There would be no forcing, no tricking. As much distaste as I have for your father, he does love your mother dearly. He would never force or trick her into having another child simply for the sake of the Vongola. The only reason why you have been kept out of Mafia affairs thus far is because that was one of his stipulations to taking his current position within the Family: That _his_ family would remain out of it, that you, and your mother, would be kept safe and ignorant. But, if the worst was to come down to the worst, then yes, a second child would be required. Either from your mother, or... someone else, if she refused."

Tsuna tensed violently as the silver haired girl grimaced unhappily.

"That's just the world we live in," she told him softly, drawing away.

"It isn't right," Tsuna murmured.

"It isn't," she agreed, "But the fact of the matter is that the Vongola Primo's bloodline is as close to a national treasure that the Mafia World gets. Originally, the Vongola started as a vigilante group, battling corruption in the Italian Government, brutal police regimes, and criminals who preyed upon the poor, sick, and destitute. They rose to considerable power from very humble beginnings through hard work and dedication to their ideals, the determination to better the lives of those they protected being their driving cause.

"But as with all good things, it came to an end. There are no exact records, but it is known that one of the Vongola's greatest allies was wiped out one day, completely, their names even stricken from record and lost. At the hands of the first Mist Guardian, Primo's close friend, Daemon Spade. Some say he wished to make a grab for power, others that he viewed the allied family as a weakness that the Primo couldn't afford, others that it was revenge for his lost lover. No one could really say as Daemon Spade vanished not long after, dubbed a traitor. That was when it all came to an end for the Primo's generation. They split, returning to their old lives, their former ways. The Primo handed leadership to his cousin, Ricardo the Secundo, in order to make the Vongola strong, then, heartsick, he left for Japan where he met his wife, and began your family line.

"The Secundo was relentless in his pursuit of power, he brought about the bloodiest generation known to the Vongola as he fought all rising contenders for the title of strongest Famiglia, ruthlessly beating them down. He brought the Vongola to power in such a meteoric rise that the name of his son, the Third Head, has been lost to history, hidden within his father's shadow. The Secundo... he was not a pleasant man, but his loyalty to the Vongola is unquestioned. The only one of the Heads to have ever possess a unique manifestation of Dying Will - "

Tsuna hung off her every word as they made their way back to his house, the way she wove the History of the Vongola for him was much more interesting than all the dry texts that Reborn tried to force down his throat. It was as if she knew what had happened, was there at the time.

"We'll need to save the rest for later," Reborn interrupted, "Tsuna isn't ready for the Flame aspect yet," he reminded her. The girl frowned a little at him but nodded.

"You'll need to tell him sooner, rather than later. Xanxus is waking up. When the VARIA are knocking on our door is not a good time to unload onto him," she pointed out making Reborn eye her in something Tsuna was beginning to identify as concern.

"Xanxus, hm? How did you know that?" he asked, watching as she frowned a little and then blanched as if realising what she'd just said. She turned away quickly.

"If you think Squalo and the rest of the VARIA haven't been chipping away at that ice - "

"Ice? How much do you know about the CRADLE Affair?"

"Reborn! Stop badgering her! Who is Xanxus, what is the VARIA?!" the young brunet demanded.

The girl shifted, looking between Tsuna and Reborn, before turning her attention to Tsuna, clearly choosing to answer him over Reborn's objections. The Sun Arcobaleno, after all, did not have her loyalty. Tsuna did. "Xanxus is the adoptive son of your predecessor, the Nono. VARIA is the assassination team he controls within the Vongola," she explained before turning to Reborn, "And the Sky Arcobaleno is not the _only_ one in the world with foresight. You meet some interesting people when you're homeless and a lot of people can't tell when junkies are spouting about the future, or just off their tits," she pointed out, her voice hard as she turned away from him, Reborn's mouth twisting slightly in grudging acceptance. Not many Mafioso would sit and listen to a junkie claiming to know the future, less still actually believe them. Gokudera-san had been homeless for a length of time when she was younger and inbetween hunting for a Famiglia, it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that she ended up being forced to share a cardboard box with one such individual, or simply stayed with them and listened out of sheer desperation for human contact that didn't hate her very existence (Reborn would like to hunt down all those idiots and alternatively thank them for leaving such a treasure for the Vongola to pick up, and shoot them for being so fucking _stupid_ that they would reject her for having a brain that didn't match her parts).

The Hitman shifted to a more comfortable position on the girl's shoulder. She was an interesting addition, one he was beginning to think was divine intervention on Tsuna's behalf. Only here a handful of days and his student was already seriously considering his role as the Vongola Tenth, already reaching out to potential Guardians with his Flame, and actually now aware of the Famiglia's History – the books Reborn had thrown at his head before now had gone in one ear and out of the other without registering.

He turned to his student with a smirk, "Aren't you glad to have such a reliable underling?" he quipped, feeling the girl tense beneath him as Tsuna started flailing and protesting. "Careful, Dame-Tsuna, carry on like that and you'll hurt her feelings," Reborn warned, ignoring the glare the young woman shot him and the look of horror that painted itself on his Student's face.

"That's – no – I didn't mean – I'd rather have Gokudera-chan as a friend! I don't _want_ underlings!" Tsuna wailed.

"Comrades," the girl interrupted, the two looking at her. "Technically we're all under the umbrella of Vongola, ergo, that makes us comrades (Nakama)," she pointed out.

"But Tsuna is the Boss," Reborn pointed out, giving her hair a hard yank, "Don't get ideas above your station."

She huffed and delicately pulled the hair out of his grip and tucked it behind her ear, "Yes he is, thus it is to _his_ wishes we must defer. If he is uncomfortable with the word 'Underling', change it to a more acceptable one," she stated primly, eyeing the Arcobaleno challengingly.

Tsuna flapped his arms, if Gokudera-chan kept saying things that Reborn didn't like he would _shoot_ her!

"A-ah! We're here! This is my house!" he squawked, spotting the two floored building and quickly darting forward to open the gate. Anything to end the argument that wasn't actually happening. "P-please be welcome!" he squeaked as he quickly opened the door to let her in first.

"Thank you," the silver haired girl muttered as she stepped in, pausing to let Reborn down before pulling her shoes off, setting them neatly to one side.

"Maman, we're home," Reborn called as he left his shoes and made his way to the kitchen, Sawada Nana's voice greeting him warmly as Tsuna took his own shoes off. "Tsuna made a friend, so we brought her home," the Sun Arcobaleno explained bluntly.

Nana-san laughed as she came out into the hallway, "Oh my, really?" she chirped before actually getting a look at said new friend, she immediately stopped and gasped, floundering for a moment before the girl took pity on her and bowed politely.

"It's nice to meet you, Sawada-san. My name is Gokudera Aya, thank you for having me," she intoned respectfully, hands clasped in front of her as she bowed, as was proper for a Japanese girl (she learned from a culture book she found that boys bowed with their hands to their sides, girls with their hands down and together at the thighs).

Nana quickly bowed back, "G-good afternoon! Welcome! Oh goodness, my Tsu-kun with such a pretty girl!" she exclaimed, flushing happily, and then, shockingly enough, bowing deeply on her hands and knees, "Isn't it hard, having this no-good son as your boyfriend?" she commiserated.

Aya scowled, "Excuse me, please don't say things like that," she scolded, taking the woman aback at the same time as Tsuna yelped that she wasn't his girlfriend.

"Oh? Are you two not - "

"I mean calling your son 'No Good', right in front of him!" she snarled, "Just because everyone at school calls him that is no reason for him to get it at home either!"

Nana flustered, "Oh, I, um - "

"Aya-san has strong feelings about parents speaking poorly of their children," Reborn explained to the woman gently, "She grew up in a broken home," he added knowledgeably, making the brunette woman gasp in pity.

"Oh, goodness, I had no idea. I'm so sorry, Aya-chan!"

"_Don't apologise to me you clueless airheaded bint!_" the girl grit out in cold Italian, not even flinching when Reborn slapped her leg for being so rude. Nana didn't notice, too busy bustling around, cooing about making tea and snacks for everyone, ushering her upstairs with Tsuna, and urging her to call her 'Mama' like everyone else.

To call that woman anything resembling 'Mother' was an insult to Hayato's mother Lavina, and Aggie's mother, Penny.

"L-let's go upstairs!" Tsuna suggested quickly, that cold tone of voice was frightfully familiar to yesterday and he didn't think his mother could survive the temper of one Gokudera Aya if she got upset.

Grumbling, the girl did as he asked, picking Reborn up and following him up the stairs where she let him down again once inside. She sat herself down at the low table and set her backpack beside her before unzipping it and rummaging inside for a notebook and a pen, paying absolutely no mind to Tsuna freaking out over a girl being in his room when it was so messy as he whipped around and grabbed his things to shove them out of the way.

By the time Tsuna finally sat down, Nana had appeared with a tray of snacks and a teapot, cheerfully setting them out and bustling off back down the stairs, still marvelling over her Tsu-kun knowing such a beautiful girl.

Seeing the dark look said girl was directing at his mother's retreating back, Tsuna flailed, "S-so, what did we need to talk about?" he spluttered, dragging her attention back toward him and away from his mother.

"My place within the Family, which at the moment I am assuming is protection detail?" she asked looking down at Reborn who nodded solemnly behind his espresso.

"Correct. I am forbidden from interfering with Vongola affairs beyond training Dame-Tsuna. As his underlin- _comrade_," he corrected seeing the look of mounting panic on Tsuna's face, "you will be expected to watch his back and prevent anyone from doing him harm," he explained. "On top of that, you are to assist me in selecting other family members. Normally I wouldn't ask for anyone's opinion, but you have a surprising level of perception with regards to Dame-Tsuna." Enough perception to get close enough to him, get dynamite into his mouth, get him to agree to his 'release', on top of how he reacted to the idea of being a Boss and several other little things.

Aya nodded, making a few notes in her notebook. "Alright, sounds easy enough. Scout the students for potential, and prevent Sawada-san from attacked. Anything else?" she asked, nibbling the tip of her pen thoughtfully as she eyed her book and then turned her attention to the small Sun Arcobaleno.

He nodded, "For now. Merely act as you normally do. Dame-Tsuna has yet to reach a stage in his development where he is physically capable of training his Dying Will. We're taking each day as it comes right now," he explained as he sipped his drink, watching the girl make a few notes.

"Physical training. What about information? There's a lot he doesn't know, I'm assuming?" she asked.

Tsuna grimaced as they both glanced to him, so he wasn't the smartest of students, so what?

"Some I can't tell him yet. Others he wouldn't understand. As for the earlier conversation we had yesterday, you know my reasons," the Hitman declared firmly.

The girl nodded, she looked unhappy, but she accepted it. Whatever it was. Tsuna really hated being out of the loop.

She pushed a few stray strands of silver hair behind her ears and then rummaged a set of reading glasses out of her bag. Tsuna blushed a little. Th-that was a cute look. Then his stomach dropped down to his feet and he wished the ground could swallow him whole when he heard her next question.

"What can you tell me about his habits? Routines? I know some of what I'm dealing with but I need to know the rest," she admitted as she got her pen ready and turned expectantly to Reborn who smirked, and then let rip.

Oh Kami-sama.

Tsuna wanted to die.

No holds barred, unvarnished, non-sugar coated, blunt, ruthless truth. Everything. Even his habit of following Kyoko-chan but never being quite able to scrap up the courage to actually go over and talk to her. How many times he had been gophered by the seniors and forced to buy pornography magazines and snacks for them. Even how many times he had caused the school sports team to fail and how he had a one-hundred percent failure rate for any team he joined. His fear of dogs. His inability to swim. How he screamed like a girl when confronted with cockroaches (though given how Gokudera-chan shivered when this was brought up he assumed she was the same), how often he faked illness in order to skip, and just what those illnesses were.

Nothing was left out and she wrote it all down methodically without pause of hesitation in a weird pictographic code.

He dropped his head down onto the table and wished the universe could forget he even existed.

Then, finally, Gokudera-chan snapped her book shut and offered him a smile, "Done. And, um, it's okay, Sawada-san. Everyone has embarrassing secrets. I won't tell. Promise," she assured him, "Is there anything you'd like to ask me? It's only fair."

Tsuna lifted his head in shock, the girl was clearly a little uncomfortable but willing.

He honestly couldn't think of what to say but, "What's your favourite colour?" he blurted out anyway.

She shrugged, "I don't really have just one," she admitted, "But if I had to choose it would be purple, green, orange, black, or red."

"H-have you ever failed a test?" he asked, still floundering for a few questions because he _did_ want to get to know Gokudera-chan, he wanted to be her friend, but he wasn't quite sure how to do it.

"A few. Mostly Family entrance tests. But when I was younger after my mother died I failed a lot because I didn't want to study," she admitted fiddling with her pen. "I always failed my etiquette classes though. I didn't really like being forced to act like a little gentleman, or what my father thought one should be," she admitted with an irate sneer.

Tsuna kept asking questions, silly pointless ones, some that were unintentionally personal, some that were, and the two of them steadily drank their way through the tea-pot and crunched their way through the snacks that Nana had provided while Reborn sat to one side watching his Stupid Student bond with his very first family member and his future Storm Guardian. She answered every single one of his questions as honestly as possible, even the painful ones that had her staring down into her teacup with a twisted expression as she admitted to her father not caring about her older sister who was mentally unwell (he almost wanted to interrupt to tell her that Bianchi was much better than she was, but Reborn hadn't _known_ the Poison Scorpion when she was a child and suffering with Discord, so he couldn't tell her whether or not the rosette haired woman had improved).

Eventually they fell quiet, Tsuna having run out of questions and the girl patiently waiting for him to think of another one as she sipped her tea.

Then, "Does this mean we're friends now?" Tsuna finally asked, staring at her forlornly over the table, as if expecting her to say no.

She nodded, "Yes. If you want, that is," she added with a flush, looking away.

"C-could you call me Tsuna then? Not Sawada?" he asked awkwardly, he had never liked people being overly formal with him, he didn't feel that he was really worth that kind of fuss.

"Only if you call me Aya," she retorted with a smile.

"Done," Tsuna agreed happily.

_**000**_

Aya stayed at the Sawada House for several more hours, even staying for dinner, as she helped Tsuna go through his homework when Reborn brought it up. It wasn't that he was stupid, it was that he just didn't get the basics and needed someone to walk him through them before he really got what a question was asking. When they were done, Tsuna introduced her to his games, they played a little Mario Cart while the girl tried to get used to the controls. Once she did, Tsuna found himself getting soundly beaten and then having to work for his victories. They were having a lot of fun with the game, even going so far as to try and sabotage each other by reaching over and pushing buttons on each other's controllers.

Dinner was surprisingly relaxed even if Aya categorically refused to call Nana 'mama' as she kept requesting, stonily pointing out that she had a mother and she didn't feel comfortable replacing her, even in name. That eventually got the woman to stop but she did keep plying more food onto the girl's plate, and quite noticeably didn't call her son 'no good' the whole meal.

Then they went back upstairs where Tsuna introduced her to another game called Monster Hunter, that one, after she went through the tutorial section, she took to like a duck to water. It was one of those games where there was no levelling system, but rather your ability as a player was improved the more you did it. You had to find a weapon that suited your fighting style, and then go gathering materials in order to make items like health potions and antidotes, as well as make stronger weapons that were less likely to blunt with prolonged use, and stronger armour.

By that point though, it was quite late and Reborn pointed out that they still had school the next morning, so Aya had best be getting home.

She bid them both goodnight and left the house with Tsuna waving to her from his bedroom window as she went down the road towards the Ryokan where she was staying until she found her own flat.

"That went well," Reborn commented from his hammock.

Tsuna nodded happily, feeling a warm glow in his chest, he had a friend!

_**000**_

**Chapter finished.**

**Yeah, fluff – all the fluff (THROWS FLUFF IN THE AIR) fluuuuuuuuff.**


	5. C5- Lambo

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER FOUR  
Lambo**

I couldn't remember a lot about the opening handful of Chapters in the Hitman REBORN manga that Aggie had read as a teenager. I did know that Yamamoto Takeshi would join our merry little band soon, closely followed by my sister, and then Sasagawa Ryohei. Then we would have Lambo – or was he before Takeshi? I did know that We would have Lambo, I-pin, Takeshi, and Ryohei before we had our first confrontation with the head of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyouya. Canonly he had been able to knock both Takeshi _and_ Hayato out cold, before attacking Tsuna. I wasn't too keen on letting that happen – I hated being knocked out.

So.

I had a rather jam-packed future in store for me.

I sighed as I circled another potential job in the newspaper.

"Still no luck?" Tsuna asked hesitantly. We had retreated to the roof to have our lunch where I had brought out my newspaper to look at the employment section, and the classified to see if there were any Studio-flats available.

"Mmm, there are a few potentials. But the hours... I would have to negotiate them. I _do_ want to join a club," I admitted with a small smile. I knew Japanese Schools put a lot of emphasis on club activities, and looking at the available list I could pinpoint a number of them that would be useful as well as interesting. And while my natural instinct would have been the Occult and Sci-fi club, there was also the Library Committee, and the Archery Club too. Given how Hayato had been the only Mid-range combatant, with a potential that went unexplored for Long-range combat, I wanted to give that club a go. I knew it would be useful to potentially keeping myself and Tsuna alive in future (against all odds I had become rather fond of him).

"What clubs?" Tsuna asked curiously as he polished off the last of his bento.

"I'm torn to be honest. I want to join the Occult and Sci-fi club, but the Archery Club would be more useful," I admitted with a shrug of my shoulder as I circled another job that looked promising, which upon rereading I then crossed out because there had been a Kanji I misread.

Tsuna tilted his head in askance, "Useful? Useful how?" he asked, just as Reborn landed feet first on his head, pitching him into the roof face first with a yell of pain and surprise. I was surprisingly getting used to the almost casual violence that Reborn displayed to the teenager, it didn't hurt that every time I felt Tsuna's flame react just a little bit more – unlike my prior belief, there was actually a method to Reborn's madness and his constant physical abuse of his student was prompting him to reach for his Flame to lessen the pain and injuries he would have otherwise received.

"The Primo's Storm Guardian, G, was an accomplished Archer," the Sun Arcobaleno observed as he hopped off Tsuna's head and promptly stole my untouched store-bought bento. That was fine, I wasn't one for eating during the day, I tended to drink tea and save myself for dinner – an unfortunate habit from my Italian upbringing where both breakfast and lunch were generally light, with large hearty meals for dinner. Sadly, the one thing I couldn't adapt to was the coffee. One of my many holdovers as Aggie was my utter unashamed tea addiction.

I nodded, "He was. But that isn't why," I stated, it was kind of a half-truth. G Archery was a fairly large part of the reason why, it was a powerful technique and it had always confused me that the weapons and techniques of the Primo's Generation were lost and forgotten so easily in the canon. To truly improve, you had to take those techniques and make them your own, and while Tsuna _had_ done that – briefly – I wanted to make sure that the Vongola would have the option of Long-range combat if it were ever needed. I could already think of several instances where it would have been preferable to mid or short-range combat. "Mostly it's so that we have as many options as possible. If I'm looking at our classmates correctly, then I can tell you're already looking into Yamamoto-san, Sasagawa-san, and Hibari-san as potentials. All of whom have the physique of short-range combatants. Since I started with mid-range, it makes sense to expand to include Long-range to cover for their lack," I explained neatly before lifting a hand to silence Tsuna's panicked inhale. "_Not_ Sasagawa Kyoko-san, Tsuna. Her older brother, the Captain of the Boxing Club, Sasagawa Ryohei," I reassured him, or at least tried to. He still freaked out.

When school ended I signed up for the Archery Club. Despite my desire to join Occult and Sci-fi, I kind of wanted to survive to my twenties significantly more – and as I _wasn't_ the Hayato of canon, I couldn't guarantee that. I needed to pour as much effort as I could into my own survival, and the survival of Tsuna, Reborn, my sister, all those people I cared about even though I probably shouldn't, if only just to protect my own damn bleeding heart.

I sighed as I left Namimori Middle and made my way to the small convenience store several blocks away, sometimes I wondered if Aggie's softness was going to end up being the thing that got me killed.

_**000**_

I didn't get the job at the small conveni near to the school. But I did get the one in the somewhat larger one next to the trainstation, it was busier, and the hours were later, but I was allowed to negotiate those hours with the manager who made a point of calling Namimori's administration office to confirm that I had permission – apparently someone had presented forged permission papers to them before. I waved him on and let him settle his own concerns. I was already half-way through the classified looking for near-by flats that would take me in, even house-shares with the elderly as it was done in Italy. Often times a student would move in with an elderly man or woman for the duration of their studies and they would help each other out, the student would assist in doing the odd jobs around the house, running errands, and the homeowner would ensure the roof over their heads, the food on the table, and make sure their studies progress in as smooth a way as possible. It was a very beneficial system, even if very easily abused, which meant it was falling out of popularity. But given how the Japanese tended to respect their elderly to a much higher degree, it wouldn't surprise me if such a system were in place.

(it wasn't, sadly)

But either way, I got my job. Nine pm, to two am.

I could already tell this was going to be hell on my sleep schedule.

_**000**_

The next day was perhaps my first culture shock incident. It had been a few days so everyone had gotten used to Tsuna and I hanging out (a lot of my female classmates had questioned me extensively about it, to which I brushed them off by lying through my teeth, saying that Tsuna's father was a business associate of my father, that we had met briefly when we were very, very small, and I had reacted poorly when I first realised who he was. Hence my apology. There was no confession, Tsuna has a girl he likes and it isn't me. We're just friends), spending lunch together, even walking home together. So when PE rolled around, and I found that the boys and the girls were split into separate sports groups up...

It wasn't difficult for the girls to see my shock.

"Are you alright, Aya-chan?" Kyoko-san asked gently.

I shook myself, "Y-yes. Sorry. I just wasn't expecting – why is the class split up?" I asked instead, frowning a little as I cast my mind back to Aggie's own school days. True, she had attended an all girls academy as a teenager, but she had then moved down south, to Winchester on the south-coast (pretty far away from Scotland), where she attended a mixed school. They had done sports as a class. No splitting of the genders save for the changing rooms and swimming class – and the latter only when one of the boys yanked a girl's bikini off in the middle of the pool, unsurprisingly he was suspended, and all the girls from that moment on took to wearing one-piece suits.

Kyoko tilted her head, smiling, "Because the boys are playing baseball."

I frowned, "But... why split the class?" I pressed.

Kurokawa Hana snorted, "Don't tell me Sawada's Dame-ness is spreading," she lamented acidly.

I shot her a glare, "Don't be stupid, Kurokawa, and don't talk about him like that," I snapped, fed up to the back teeth. I knew Japan had a bullying problem but the levels of crap these brats heaped onto Tsuna was honestly astonishing.

"When he stops being useless, then I'll stop calling him that," the dark haired girl retorted flatly.

I grit my teeth, "Then should I refer to you as Bitch until you remove that self-righteous stick from your asshole?" I demanded sharply, making the girl splutter as I bore down on her, teeth bared, prodding her shoulder furiously, "People's worth isn't determined by their _usefulness_. What gives you the right to decide something like that, Kurokawa? Who died and made you Supreme Empress of Humanity? Grow up you nasty little brat. If this is how Japanese people treat their peers then I am _sincerely_ not surprised you have the highest suicide rates in the world," I snarled, really laying into her as she shrank back, brown eyes wide, Kyoko-chan squeaking and looking between us in fright.

"Wha – how – you, _Outsider_, what do you know?" Kurokawa spluttered.

I made a cutting handmotion, slapping her argument aside, "It's _because_ I'm an outsider that I'm seeing this clearly! I'm not seeing the failed tests, or the clumsiness, or the years of messing up and skipping class. I'm looking _NOW_. And I see something very different to what you are. So _don't_ call him useless. Because he's already stopped your bestfriend from being used by that scum-bucket Mochida. His grades are on the up, not by much, but they are because someone's actually taken the damn time to help him with the basics he was never taught. You don't know his story, mine, or anyone else's. You don't get to judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. So shut. Up." And with one last jab to her, now probably bruised, collarbone, I turned and stalked off to the otherside of the rather shocked group of girls so I wouldn't have to deal with the self-righteous little cow anymore.

Our classmates went very quiet and shuffled, unsure of how to react to my comments, I could tell a few of them were turning it over in their heads, a few were too shocked to even try, and a few were scandalised that a _Gaijin_ would step up to tell someone off. That kind of thing didn't generally happen in Japan. They were much more concerned with the public space and ensuring that no one felt uncomfortable in it. Well, if they were then they would stop being such bullying little _brats_. I didn't even care about how out of character this outburst from me was – I didn't tend to get so bent out of shape so easily, but lately I'd been flying off the handle a lot more easily.

Then Sensei showed up to put us through warm up. Today we were doing volleyball.

_**000**_

"We lost again," Tsuna lamented as he finally caught up with me after school – I took that to mean our classmates had left him with clean-up duty. I scoffed irritably.

"I thought Baseball was a _team_ sport. How is it just your fault if they lose?" I demanded as I picked up my bag to walk with him. Given how sports was the last class of the day, Tsuna had been cleaning the field largely on his own while I went to Archery Club, it was surprisingly fun. I expected to see a lot of guys there to be perfectly honest, but no, it was mainly populated by girls, at least until I remembered that Kyuujutsu was considered a feminine sport in Japan, a bit like dance was in the West. A boy joining up would get a bit of side-eyeing but that was about it. Still, given how it was once a Samurai art, that did surprise me. Along with the fact that Soujutsu, Lancing, was also considered feminine. Weird.

"Still, you seem happy, did you make a friend?" I asked, already knowing that he had.

"Uh huh, a really popular guy asked me for advice!" the smaller boy chirped happily, proud of himself for helping one of his classmates, for being someone that they felt they could rely on for such things. I smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Good for you." I almost wanted to tell him about Yamamoto's injuries, but I also knew that Tsuna needed to confront him on the roof for Takeshi to join the family, for them to have that connection. I told myself not to interfere.

Besides, I had flat viewings. I knew it would all work out so I bade Tsuna goodnight as I turned off towards the first of them, already able to see the landlady waiting in front of the property with a smile when she spotted my approach.

"Gokudera-san?" she asked.

_**000**_

The first two flats were too expensive for the amount of space provided. The third one, that one got snatched out from under my feet by the couple who viewed it before me. The fourth was quite nice, but then I heard the couple next-door shouting and arguing. I decided against it and the landlord looked like he was one step away from going next door and kicking the shit out of the arguing couple himself. The fifth I found as it was getting dark, I hadn't had much in the way of hopes, as it was set above a little laundrette, the landlady lived next door in her own home and her husband ran the laundrette while she handled ironing and dry-cleaning, they had decided to lease the upstairs and upon hearing of my circumstances they let me take a look.

It was actually cheaper than my maximum price-range, it was a traditional looking little flat, one room, a bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet, and a small kitchen area with sink, stove, oven, and fridge. There wasn't much counter space, but that was fine.

I went for it.

I would be allowed to move in two weeks from now, at the start of the month, I just had to pay the deposit, and the first month of rent first. All my bills would be included in my rent as they went to the laundrette and thus the landlady, they just expected me to keep the noise down, not to bother the customers, and behave myself.

On my way back to the Blue Swallow, I called up the storage company I'd left the stuff I couldn't carry around with me and told them about my change in address along with the shipping company that were going to gather them and bring them to me. Once everything was approved, I got myself something to nibble on before returning to the Ryokan where I bathed and then went to bed. Tomorrow would have Takeshi attempting to throw himself off the roof and Tsuna trying to rescue him.

I was then going to smack them both around the head, Takeshi for thinking his life was over because of baseball, and Tsuna for thinking it was his fault (and he would).

_**000**_

I never did know what time it was that Takeshi decided to throw himself off the roof, but apparently it was in the morning. A morning that I had spent in the office arranging further paperwork and details, letting them know about my change in address, who my landlady was, calling up so she could speak to the school administration while I went and filled in the details of my job so that it would be on record.

I didn't even find out that Takeshi had 'pranked' the school until I left and reentered the classroom, several of my classmates asking if I knew that Tsuna and Takeshi had planned on a prank to raise awareness about suicide in Japanese teenagers – apparently my blow up at Kurokawa-san had only added fuel to the fire that this was some kind of elaborate demonstration to our classmates that suicide was a genuine problem and people _should_ be trying to do something to help their friends and family away from it. I shrugged and admitted that I knew _something_ was going to happen today, but I had no idea what, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and smack those two idiots upside the head, where might they be?

Apparently in the nurse's office.

Off I went.

"You two are idiots," I declared unceremoniously as I walked into the office, the two teenage boys starting violently as Reborn grinned under his fedora. "I'm glad you survived, Yamamoto-san, but don't ever do that again. I doubt your parents would be very happy to bury their only son," I ruthlessly pointed out, making the fourteen year old blanch in dismay and realisation. "As for you," I rounded on Tsuna who predictably cringed away, "Well done. You managed to talk some sense into someone under your own reasoning. Be proud. If not for you, Yamamoto-san wouldn't be here today."

Tsuna blinked in shock before shaking his head, "He wouldn't have even broken his arm if I hadn't said those things!" he exclaimed in distress.

I shrugged, "Maybe. Who knows. Yamamoto-san is an enthusiastic individual, especially when it comes to baseball. He very well may have arrived at the conclusion to simply practice more under his own power and still managed to break his arm. We will never know. What we do know is that if it hadn't been for you, he would have thrown himself off the roof and died. Speaking of," I added, reaching out quick as a snake and smacking said baseball idiot upside the head, "It's a broken arm not a shattered joint! It'll heal and you can go right back to swinging a bat around! Baseball is a team-sport, if there seems to be a slump, chances are it's _them_ resting on their laurels thinking that they'll win simply by virtue of having you on their team. Like they do when they think they'll lose simply because Tsuna is on the team."

He rubbed the back of his head, looking both startled and amused, an odd relief filtering through his brown eyes as I told him off, "Ah-haha, I – I suppose that's true..." he admitted, trailing off as he smiled, relaxing on the bed as if several heavy weights fell from his body. I nodded in satisfaction. No fourteen year old should ever feel pressured or stressed enough to take their own lives. Fourteen or not, no child should feel that way. My hand drifted to -

I aborted the movement the second I realised what I was about to do and instead ran that hand through my hair, "Right, well, since I have the impression we're not really going to be getting rid of you, I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Gokudera Hayato, Aya preferably. I'm in the Archery Club, and I like fantasy and sci-fi books. Nice to meet you," I greeted with a polite bow.

Yamamoto quickly scrambled to his feet and dropped into an awkward, slightly off balance bow, what with his arm still being in a sling. "Yamamoto Takeshi, call me by my first name! Baseball club is where it's at, I like taiko drums and my favourite drink is milk! Nice to meet you, Aya-chan!" he declared with a cheery laugh.

Huh. I hadn't known about the taiko drum thing, interesting.

"Tsuna?" I prompted, giving him a look. Takeshi and I may never have met before now, but I was willing to bet the Vongola Storm Ring that neither he nor Takeshi had really been all that close in the years they had attended school before now.

He jolted and fumbled a second before getting to his feet, red faced, "A-ah, Sawada Tsunayoshi, c-call me Tsuna, ple-ease! I, um, I don't have a club, I like playing computer games a-and reading manga! I um, it's – I suppose it's nice to finally meet the real Yamamoto-san," he finished, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly before bowing forward, lower than the both of us.

And that was... kind of that.

We stayed in the Nurse's office until the last bell before I left for Archery practice and let both Tsuna and Takeshi brave the dangers of Namimori Middle's Gossip while I terrified my club-mates by drawing hard enough to puncture through the straw targets we were using with a rubber tipped arrow (having the upperbody strength of a male was useful in this instance, as a beginner I was stronger than the other girls who had been in the club for the last three or four months, not better, just stronger, and the Senpai still had me beat on strength too).

I wasn't expecting them to be waiting for me when I left the changing rooms, grinning sheepishly and waving cheerfully.

_**000**_

The moment I saw the explosions in the Sawada household, I knew that Lambo had arrived. He was the only one who threw grenades around willy-nilly – Reborn tended to focus his almost entirely on Tsuna.

I debated it.

I knew Lambo could be obnoxious as fuck, in fact, he was one of my most least liked characters when I read the manga the first time, he was _such_ a brat. But that was just being a five-year-old little boy all over though, wasn't it? Especially when they'd been raised to violence and had a silver spoon in their mouths at the same time. He was an assassin at five, running around with grenades and a bazooka that showed him the fut-

I sprinted for Tsuna's house.

They would sit down for dinner, if the Lambo of Ten Years Later recognised me then that would mean I managed to not only _survive_ that long, but it would also mean that – that – there actually wasa future here for me. That... That I would stay with Tsuna and the Vongola.

I _had_ to be sure!

I had to know!

I tried to push my doubts away, my fears, but they crept up on me, lingering in the dark, waiting for me to let my guard down, slipping through my thoughts and dreams in the dark hours when I was alone in my room at the Ryokan, seeping like mist through the cracks in my confidence and faith. I doubted. I feared. I lay awake and cringed in my bedding and tossed and turned and tried to think of other things and flinched whenever my thoughts just cycled back, endlessly circling that drain of self-loathing that I refused to let myself fall into again.

I arrived just in time to catch the five year old as he kind of... exploded, a little, after being thrown out of the window.

"_Mio dio, that Reborn is as rough as ever_," I complained in Italian as I carefully checked the somewhat scorched little boy over. No broken bones. He had already taken to using his Lightning Flame to reinforce his body, impressive. His bones were practically buzzing with Flame saturation, it would take a head on collision with a bullet train to break any of them. I wonder... Lambo was the first of the Vongola to use his Dying Will Flame, activate the Box Weapons in the future... did this mean that he was some kind of genius, or idiot savant when it came to Flames? I brushed the thought aside as I rummaged a handkerchief from my pocket and mopped him up as he started bawling. "_I know. He's very rough, isn't he? Let's go talk to Mrs Sawada, and Tsuna, hm?_" I suggested, scooping him up and balancing him on my hip, mind flashing back to those beloved cousins I had watched grow, and my _shigu_ back in China.

I rang the bell and waited patiently as I mopped Lambo up again, the little boy clutching tightly to my top with all the force of a limpet to a rock.

"Oh, Aya-chan, and who is this?" Nana exclaimed as she opened the door.

I hefted the little boy a little, "A friend of Reborn's. I think they had a fight, he hasn't stopped crying since I found him," I explained as I carefully wiped his cheeks once more. "Is either he or Tsuna in right now?" I asked despite knowing that they were.

"Uh huh. They're upstairs doing homework. Come on in," she told us, stepping aside so we could come in and remove our shoes. "Oh, Tsu-kun!" Nana chirped, spotting her son as she came down the stairs, "Guess who dropped by to visit," she chirped, gesturing to me as I paused in taking my shoes off, having put Lambo down as best I could – he was clinging to my leg now instead.

His face alternatively brightened upon seeing me, and then twisted in confusion and fell a tad when he saw Lambo, yeah, the kid had that kind of reaction for most people in my experience. I smiled a little at him as I straightened up, not bothering to remove my shoes.

Nana cooed a little at the still tearful Lambo, "He's a friend of Reborn-chan's right? Did they fight? Tsuna, you're the oldest, the man, so you'll have to be the middle one and settle it out," she told him pointedly as she gave Lambo a pat on the head before drifting off, "I'm going to make dinner, so I'll leave it to you. Aya-chan, you're welcome to join us, if you'd like?" she offered cheerily.

Chance!

"Yes please!" I called as I tried to nudge Lambo off my leg so I could take my boots off. He didn't shift at all.

Tsuna squatted down and frowned at him, "Hey, let go of Aya-chan," he ordered, Lambo shook his head and clung even more tightly. Tsuna tried to tug him off but the boy wasn't letting go.

Oh god, had he decided to cling to me instead of Tsuna just because I was nice to him first? I blanched a little at this thought. I did _not_ want to be the babysitter!

"I'll call Reborn for you? Okay?" Tsuna asked, trying to be friendly only for Lambo's wailing to increase as he frantically shook his head, tears and shot gushing from almost every available orifice. I grimaced. I washed those jeans last night.

Somehow we got the kid out of the house, meandering down to the river where we ended up sat on the riverbank, Lambo covering me in copious amounts of tears and snot. I was going to get his older-self to pay me back. I swear. Somehow. That boy was going to pay – actually, yes. Yes he was. HE could pay for my trip to the laundrette to get my clothes cleaned! Oh, oh, euuurgh, it was _seeping_ in! The grimace of disgust on my face had to have been a picture, but I couldn't physically pry the kid off me without punting him into the river – and I had some issues with child abuse that the canon!Hayato clearly didn't. I knew it wouldn't _hurt_ him, what with the Lightning Flame reinforcement. But that didn't mean I could do it. He was five. Assassin or no.

"Here, you like candy, right?" Tsuna asked, the sound of a sweet-wrapper crinkling hitting my ears as he handed the Bovino Heir something yellow. I sighed as I felt one tiny hand release my shirt in order to collect it. The boy gave an almighty sniff that was perhaps closer to a snort – sucking up a good trail of snot from his upper lip. Urgh. Did I have any tissues? Seriously, that was just gross and I did _not_ want any more of it on my clothes!

"La-Lambo's dream is to be the Boss of the Bovino Famiglia, and," he sniffed again, mouth filled with the hard boiled sweet as he hugged his knees to his chest, "and make all of humanity bow down to me..." I blinked, pausing in my rummaging to look down at the kid. The fuck? "But, my Boss told me to defeat the Super First-Class hitman, Reborn." Seriously? Was the Bovino Famiglia Head that fucking stupid or – no, this wasn't adding up, hadn't Irie Shouichi received a thank-you package from him for taking care of Lambo later in the series, one addressed to Tsuna? It had been filled with wine and shells for the Bazooka. It was what _started_ the whole Time-travelling Byakuran débâcle. Why would he send a FIVE YEAR OLD off to try and kill an Arcobaleno and then a care package to Tsuna for taking- ...care... of him... holy shit.

Taking Care of Lambo.

He hadn't sent Lambo to kill Reborn.

He'd sent Lambo to get killed _by_ Reborn.

_**000**_

**Dun dun dun!**

**I always thought it suspect that Lambo would be sent to kill Reborn. Actually a lot of things in the early part of the series are suspect when you take the latter-half into account. Out of the canon we know it's because Amano started off with a humour/spoof Mafia manga, but then it got popular. Originally it was supposed to end with the Ring Battles if memory serves. After that she kind of had to come up with plot and stuff. And have some Chinese stuff too, because its interesting and Aya spent some time learning Martial Arts in China after a bad situation – hence when she spoke of her Shigu, a senior student.**

_Shigu_: Chinese term meaning 'Teacher Older Sister', essentially a Martial Arts term. A female martial arts student who started before you, so you both learn under the same master, but as she's been there longer, you refer to her with the term 'older sister' regardless of her age as she has seniority. Unlike with a lot of countries, it's considered polite to err on the side of older in China.

_Shixing_: 'Teacher Older Brother', much like older sister, it is a student under the same Master who simply started before you and thus has seniority.

_Shidi_: 'Teacher Younger Brother', a student under the same Master who has started after you, and thus is your Junior.

_Shimei_: 'Teacher Younger Sister', a student under the same Master who has started after you, and thus is your Junior.

_Todai_: 'Disciple', essentially a student that the Master takes special interest in and essentially adopts. The Todai assists the Master in minor school duties such as housekeeping, tuition collection, etc.

_Shifu:_ 'Teacher Father', so in otherwords, the Master. In Mandarin Chinese it uses both the characters for Teacher and Father, and in traditional schools the Master takes both these roles seriously. Often times the traditional school, known as a Kwoon/Guan, is an extended family headed by the Shifu. If his Teacher is present they are referred to as _Shigong_ 'Honourable Master'. Similarly if he has a wife, she is referred to as _Shimu_ 'Teacher Mother', and the Grandmaster's wife as _Shi lao_, or _Shi po_.

_Shi zu_: 'Founding Teacher', a Master who created their own school, i.e. Bruce Lee is the Shi zu "Founder" of Jeet Kune Do.


	6. C6- Bianchi

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER FIVE  
Bianchi**

Tsuna knew he was stupid. But he wasn't unobservant. Something Lambo had said had upset Aya-chan, enough so that her features had bleached white, almost grey, and her eyes had gone unusually wide. She looked frightened, and a little queasy, and seemed to be watching Lambo a little more closely. When Tsuna asked her what was wrong though, she shook it off and smiled awkwardly, telling him that it was just an unpleasant thought and not to worry about her.

Unfortunately Tsuna's mother didn't have a problem with the little boy joining them and quite cheerily got out a plate for him. He watched with half an eye as Aya-chan took a seat and then glanced between Reborn and Lambo with a wary expression. Did she know something he didn't? Well, she knew a _lot_ of things he didn't, but did she specifically know something about the two of them? She looked like she wasn't sure if she should be running away or gearing up for a fight. When Aya-chan, Lambo, and Reborn had their plates filled, Nana cheerily dished some spaghetti out for her son before popping over next-door to deliver the Circular Bulletin – she was surprisingly involved with the local community, definitely more so than Tsuna himself.

He immediately turned to his Tutor when she'd left, "Can't you do something? I can't handle him and he won't leave Aya-chan alone!" he protested as the pint-sized Hitman continued to eat his spaghetti without paying a single lick of attention to his put-upon student. He huffed in frustration, of course the brat was ignoring him. Even Lambo was ignoring him, he hadn't taken his eyes off Reborn since he'd walked into the room, and was now sweating bullets and gripping the western cutlery fiercely.

Tsuna didn't know what was more surprising to him that moment, that the knife didn't _bend_ under the force of Lambo's grip, or that he actually mustered the bravery to throw it at Reborn – who, true to form, ignored him and idly deflected the blade straight back at him. The boy gaped, blood streaming down his forehead as the blade sank into his curly afro hair, slicing through the skin on top of his head.

Tsuna wheezed a little in horror at the sight of the bright red liquid dribbling down the five year old's face.

Didn't that kid ever _learn_?!

The boy burst into shrieking wails that made Aya-chan flinch and grimace in her seat, he flailed and threw himself away from Reborn and produced that weird pink bazooka from quite literally _no where_. Wait – Tsuna squawked in alarm as the boy aimed it at himself, all the while wailing unhappily.

There was an explosion of pink smoke before Tsuna could jump up and stop him from committing suicide, and none of the fire or destruction that he had seen bazookas do in the western action films he'd seen.

"Yare, yare. Seems I'm ten years back in the past again," a smooth, drawling voice observed as the smoke began to clear, revealing a handsome foreign boy with curly dark hair and a cow-printed shirt. He glanced around with green eyes and flicked a two finger salute to Tsuna when he noticed him, "Young Vongola, long time no see," he greeted before turning to the only girl at the table and producing a much wider smile for her and a tiny wave, "Neechan, you're looking healthy," he praised.

Tsuna gaped in disbelief, who... who was this dandy looking individual? His shirt was unbuttoned almost to his navel! Surely Hibari-san would have bitten him to death for public indecency already!

Catching the look of confusion and disbelief, choosing to ignore the heartbreaking expression of relief and awe on the young woman's face as she trembled very slightly, suppressing the burning in her eyes. The young man smiled, "Thank you for taking care of me, ten years ago. I'm the cry baby Lambo," he introduced, smirking slightly as Tsuna spluttered in confusion. "To cut a long story short, the person shot with the Ten Year Bazooka is swapped with their future self from ten years into the future for five minutes at a time," he explained slouching over to the table, one eye closed, the other lidded as his gaze swept around almost nostalgically.

Until it landed on Reborn, and a semi-challenging glint appeared. Oh no.

"Hey, Reborn. I changed, didn't I?" he asked, "I'm Lambo, the one who you kept ignoring," he reminded as if the other Hitman had forgotten in the few seconds since he was last there. Aaaaand, true to form, Reborn didn't respond again. Contentedly eating his spaghetti as if the other teenager hadn't spoken at all, eyeing Aya-chan the whole while as if she were one of the most fascinating things in the room as she tried to marshal her self control and not burst into tears.

Lambo gritted his teeth in a half snarl-half grin, as if he had been looking forward to this confrontation. "Geez! Looks like I have to use my skills then. I'll show you how much I've changed in ten years!" he declared, withdrawing two ivory shaped cones from his pocket and planting them on the side of his head. Horns? They were unusually shiny, Tsuna noted.

"**Thunder set**," he intoned darkly as all the hairs on Tsuna's arm suddenly stood straight, and he felt a little weird. He couldn't really describe it either, too busy staring as those oddly shiny horns _lit_ up, crackling and humming with green lightning that sparked off and fizzled into the air with sizzling pops that made his saliva taste very tangy in his mouth. "My horns are one million volts," the boy bragged idly, as if warning them against touching them.

He lunged forward, "Die, Reborn! **Elettrico Cornata**!" he snarled, head lowered as if to ram those horns into the baby sat opposite Tsuna and Aya-chan.

Tsuna didn't even see Reborn move. But suddenly, everything stopped and Older!Lambo was stood perfectly motionless, head lowered, a silver fork planted firming in his skull, Reborn holding the handle, chewing idly, and still watching Aya-chan who had jumped to her feet and shifted to pull Tsuna back out of harm's way.

Silence.

Then they heard the sound of blood dripping onto the floor.

"To-ler-ate..." the Older!Lambo gritted before he burst into tears. Tsuna grimaced, that was gross, a boy their age bursting into tears like that? Gross. "MAAMAA! WAAAAAAH!" he wailed as he tore himself away from Reborn.

For a moment, Tsuna thought he was going to go sprinting out of the kitchen after his own mother, but instead, he launched himself at Aya-chan, burying his face into her stomach and latching long arms around her waist as he wailed.

The girl... Tsuna tried not to laugh. There was nothing really very funny about the casual violence that had just unfolded, but the look of abject _horror_ on her frozen features was one that would entertain him for many years to come whenever he thought back on this moment.

The squeaking whimper that managed to wheeze its way out of her lungs was just the final straw. Tsuna had to clamp a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter a moment before a burst of pink smoke engulfed the room and Aya-chan was left with a five year old Lambo tearfully sat in her lap, who then decided to latch back onto her stomach and bury his face into her chest, hiding himself away from Reborn.

The girl didn't move an inch, and looked rather close to crying herself too.

Tsuna snorted, suppressing a semi-hysterical giggle.

_**000**_

When her tenure at the Ryokan ran out, Aya wasted no time in moving into her new place. Tsuna and Takeshi even helped her move in when the mover van showed up, they aided the work men in carrying things up the stairs into her second floor flat and set it down so everyone could leave. In all, it only took half an hour to unload everything into the little flat, and both Tsuna and Takeshi were stood staring at her belongings with wide eyes.

She blushed, knowing that the Japanese tended to focus on minimalism when it came to possessions.

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a pack-rat," she admitted as she picked up one of the _many_ boxes of books that had been left in the middle of the room.

"You sure like books, Aya-chan," Takeshi observed with an easy laugh.

She nodded, "Yup." There was no such thing as too many books Aggie's mother used to say – and her father would merely roll his eyes and make a note to buy some lumbar next time he went out. Within a week of hearing those words, there would be a new bookcase somewhere in the house made by her father's fair hand (work roughened, scarred, and ring-fingerless hand – he lost his finger in the navy years before she was even born). "No such thing as too many books, just not enough bookcases," she declared with a grin that had Takeshi laughing and Tsuna smiling fondly at her. She flushed and immediately looked away, feeling something warm twist in her stomach when they accepted her bookworm tendencies so easily and without scorning her in the slightest.

"Do you want us to stick around and help?" Tsuna asked, looking around at the boxes and bags curiously. A genuine offer that she was tempted to take him up on before thinking. She had moved around a lot as Aggie, many years at university and a new Student House every year – being a mature student meant that she often clashed with the younger students so she never stuck around long. She knew from personal experience that the two boys would just get in her way of cleaning and tidying, but she didn't want to send them off when they'd just helped her. It would be rude.

She hummed before an idea struck her. She dug into her school satchel and opened her notebook, scribbling a quick list, "This place is too small for all of us to be moving around at once. So how about this? Could you two do me a favour and get my shopping for me? I imagine you know the best places to get stuff on the cheap. Here's my purse, if there isn't enough cash in there use my card, I've written the PIN on the bottom of the list," she said as she tore the page out and handed it over.

The two boys grinned happily at the assigned task, promising that they would get everything on there and be back soon before tumbling out of the door like puppies. She chuckled and wondered if she had ever been that young once before shaking the thought off as stupid, of course she had.

With the two boys out from underfoot, she got to work quickly and efficiently. The book boxes were stacked in one corner, the box with her kitchenware was placed in the tiny kitchenette, she shoved her desk beneath one of the windows, quickly laid her bed out and got it screwed together and the mattress thrown on. She was in the process of shoving the boxes and bags of her clothing, shoes, bedding, towels, and other things into the cupboard when the boys returned – gaping at how much work she had been able to do in such a short amount of time.

"Park yer butts on the bed, its about time I took a break anyhow," she declared with a grin as they set the bags of shopping on the side and cautiously ventured inside. It wasn't long before all three of them were laughing, drinking ramune, the boys sat cross-legged on her bed while she sat backwards on her wheely-computer chair. They chattered about homework, Nezu-sensei being an asshole (which was a little off as she was sure she could remember him being fired by this point in time), Takeshi and Tsuna attempting to explain why boys had some classes and girls had others – such as baseball vs volley ball that the girls did, Aya still didn't get it though, unless it was something like swimming or rugby she just didn't see the point in separating.

But eventually she bade the boys goodbye and really knuckled down on her moving. Bookshelves were put into position, books unloaded onto them in the order that she liked, clothing was folded up and put away, she made her bed, she sorted out her desk, she set up a low coffee table as her dynamite station and stored the hazardous chemicals and materials she used in their creation under it in a box marked 'kitchen'. She got out her decorative stuff and changed the curtains, she put pictures up, pinned the delicate silk butterflies that Shifu and Shigu got for her to the walls, set her tea-station up in the kitchen, put all her crockery away, the electronics, knives, forks, etc, dug out tea towels and oven gloves, and put all the food Tsuna and Takeshi bought for her in their proper places. And then, she sorted out the bathroom before taking a long overdue shower, changing into some night clothes and falling asleep in her own bed.

She woke up to Lambo hammering on her front door wailing about Reborn and calling her Mama again but... It was nice, the peace, while it lasted.

_**000**_

The first hint she had of her sister being in the area was their Home Economics class. She recalled an inkling of Bianchi interfering with it but couldn't remember if it was now, or in a later class. Either way, she went to work next to Kyoko, the two of them chattering as Kyoko helped show her how to use the rice-cooker and what not. The Japanese prepared their rice very differently, which just started off a conversation on the different dishes she'd made or tried while Kurokawa tried not to look like she was paying any attention.

Aya hummed, staring down at her rice-balls. She hadn't washed them enough so they were a bit... unpleasant tasting, and misshapen. She chuckled when she saw the boys approaching her.

"Sorry guys, for your own tastebuds, I'm not giving you any. They're horrible," she admitted.

"They can't be that bad!" Takeshi laughed as he swiped one before she could yank it back.

"Hey! Rude!" she protested with a laugh, waiting for the inevitable grimace. Takeshi's dad ran a Sushi place, if he didn't eat quality well made rice-balls then she would eat her Shrapnel Bombs.

What she didn't expect was for him to suddenly gag and choke, all the blood drained from her face in horror as Takeshi grabbed at his throat, wheezing as if he were suffocating before falling backwards clutching his throat. She panicked as he hit the ground only to freeze as his wheezing turned into giggles, and then full out laughter as he cracked one eye open and sat up. That little _bastard_!

"Ahaha, sorry, was that too much?" he asked mirthfully, grinning up at her.

"You're an asshole and I hate you," she deadpanned, grinning a little as she reached down and hauled him back to his feet. "For a second there I thought you were actually serious."

Takeshi laughed and dragged her into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles through her hair, "Ah c'mon, they weren't great but they were hardly that bad! You just needed to give them one more wash before they were ready to go, and use a little less vinegar too," he suggested grinning as she pushed him off with one hand and wriggled away.

"I'll bare that in mind. My sister gave everyone food poisoning whenever she cooked, I was a bit worried that I'd done the same," she admitted, sharing the rice-balls out had only served to remind her intensely of her sister's introduction in the manga – when she swapped Kyoko's rice-balls with poison ones.

Wait...

Aya paused when she saw pink from the corner of her eye, hanging in the doorway, was that...?

She turned sharply and saw Tsuna's shaking hand reaching for Kyoko's rice-balls, purple rice-balls with maggots wriggling in them. That -

"Ah, Kyoko-san, those aren't your rice-balls!" she protested in '_confusion_', "Did you pick someone else's up by accident?" she asked drawing the girl's attention down to the disgusting package in her hands.

And, like a typical girl, she squealed and flung the wriggling food across the room – it must have been the maggots. As laid back and cheery a girl as Kyoko was, Aya didn't think even she could handle holding maggot infested food without freaking out. Tsuna shot her a grateful look as Kyoko shuddered and quickly ran off to wash her hands, she waved him off and quickly stalked into the corridor, hoping to catch Bianchi but... gone.

She sighed deeply through her nose, this could get messy, quickly, and it wasn't going to stop until Reborn put his foot down.

She ignored the bewildered hurt that gripped her insides that her sister would ignore her very existence, then again, hadn't she done the same in canon? Not even noticing when her little brother had been about to take one of her deadly rice-balls from Kyoko. No, Aya couldn't hold that against her. She had such a bad form of tunnel vision due to her mental health that it was doubtful Bianchi noticed anything beyond Tsuna and Reborn at this point in time.

"Ne, ne, who are you going to share the other two balls with?" one of her classmates, Kitamori Yuuko, asked, elbowing her slyly with a smirk.

Aya jumped like a scolded cat, she had forgotten that other people outside her small group of dysfunctional main character comrades existed sometimes. Having them sneak up on her was unpleasant. She turned to the girl and then looked across the room to where a lot of boys in the class were eyeing her with particularly intent expressions. She swallowed uncertainly, wasn't there some... kind of etiquette to Japanese girls giving food to male classmates?

"Um... Well, Takeshi's already had one, the other was for Tsuna..." she trailed off as several male classmates exchanged significant looks and paid a greater deal of attention even as she looked to both her friends in floundering askance, completely out of her depth and a little unsettled with the attention. Even as Aggie she had never been the focus of such male interest before in her life. It – wasn't – didn't Japan have a very... shaky concept of consent when it came to sexual interaction? All their hentai... a great deal of it was... not. Consentual that is. It was pretty much rape. Well, not pretty much. A lot of it simply was straight up rape. And the majority was the rape of schoolgirls as young as thirteen. By classmates, teachers, thugs in the street, family members...

Tsuna came to her rescue. Again.

"I'm sure Lambo would be happy if you shared the last one with him," he suggested quickly, and she relaxed almost immediately. That was safe. Lambo was a kid, a kid who happened to be very irritating, clingy, and somehow both the most obnoxious little brat she had ever encountered, and a strangely endearing one.

"I suppose I could share it with the little brat. If he stops crying all over me," she muttered with a frown. There were a few disappointed groans from her male classmates, one of them even verbally complaining about how he should have gotten one, but other than that, their attention thankfully diverted to other areas. She shook her head, what was it with Japan and male students focusing so much on their (main character) female classmates? (She didn't even have tits! Why were they being so interested?)

_**000**_

The reunion between sisters was... both understated, awkward, and a bit dramatic.

Aya had some suspicion her sister would be present, but she hadn't expected the sudden stab of hurt she'd felt when the pink haired woman looked at her without any recognition at all. It hurt enough that the silver haired girl had sucked in a sharp breath as if someone had punched her in the gut before turning and walking away. Tsuna quickly found her, and asked if she was okay. He was a sweetheart, really.

And then the whole tale came out.

"She's my sister. The one I told you about. She'd been unwell, mentally, since we were kids. When I left, she was about ten, perhaps eleven. I'm... not surprised she didn't recognise me. I hardly look like the little Princeling I used to be," she explained as she tugged on her long hair and made a gesture to her skirt.

"Bianchi is your _sister_?!" Tsuna squawked, flailing comically. She nodded miserably, leaning back against the wall.

"Yeah. I haven't seen her in... six years now. She was pretty bad when I left, she had no idea what she was doing was hurting people. She used to get so upset when people went away at home. I didn't have the heart to tell her she accidentally killed them. Then Dad started tricking her into using her Poison Cooking at his command so she would deal with other problems for him. I heard she got into assassination work about four years ago. She'd have only been a little younger than us. Fuck." She dug a hand through her thick silver hair, closing her eyes and thumping her head back against the treebark behind her, "I never should have left, I should have been there to protect her from Dad. Stop that knob-gobbling thunder cunt from manipulating her like that!" she seethed, getting worked up again.

"You couldn't have stayed," Bianchi's voice stated from behind them, making the two jump and Aya whip around violently. Her sister emerged from the bushes, Reborn perched on her shoulder with a placid look on her face. "I'm not so unaware that I can't look back and understand what happened. Father was going to have me poison you," she stated as Reborn jumped off her shoulder to land on Tsuna's.

"Bianchi - " Aya tried to protest, only to have her words freeze when a pair of long pale arms swooped around her shoulders.

Her sister was hugging her.

"I'm glad you got away. I missed you, Little Sister."

_**000**_

**Boom done. I was going to continue onto Haru's introduction, but I wanted to cover that from Aya's POV. **


	7. C7- Haru

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER SEVEN  
Haru**

I didn't realise when I'd started to cry. I just clung to my sister as tightly as I could. I thought I'd lost her. Somewhen, many years ago when her mind went down the toilet and no one but I seemed interested in trying to fish it out, when our father didn't _care_ enough to try, began to even use her and make it worse. I thought she would forever be a broken, deluded two-dimensional woman. I sent letters, of course, but it wouldn't have surprised me if my father had hidden them away and refused to ever let her read them. It wouldn't have surprised me if he fractured her mind further.

But she knew me.

She knew me for _me_. Not just as her little brother, but as _me_. Her _sister_.

_**000**_

Apparently Bianchi was also going to tutor Tsuna. I... don't remember that happening. I don't remember her teaching anyone anything, beyond trying to aid her brother in training his Storm Flames in the future, something that was a little useless right now as _I could already use my Flames_. Shifu had noticed that I was quite a powerful Storm and seen fit to pass a few techniques down, they trained me in an effort to give me some inner peace, get my mind off past events, and give me some security in my ability to defend myself without a weapon. I didn't need Bianchi to teach me anything. And I don't think she could teach Tsuna anything about her Poison Cooking techniques because not even _she_ knew how they first came into being.

I had my theories, but they were just theories at present.

I offered to let her stay with me, but apparently she had already made arrangements with Sawada Nana to stay with them, and besides, didn't I have a tiny one bedroom student flat above a laundrette? My sister scolded me for making an offer I wasn't equipped to follow through on. I couldn't help but scowl and bristle defensively, I would have _made_ it work. It would have been hard, and tight, but as Tsuna's tutor she would have also been getting paid. Ergo, she'd have been able to afford her own food and even contribute to the rent, there was enough space for another bed, if I got rid of the bookcases.

I didn't leave that night. Upon seeing how clingy I was with my sister, Nana offered to rustle up a second futon so I could spend the night. I agreed and it wasn't long before I was pulled off into the bathroom to get cleaned up, my sister washing my back her fingers lightly tracing the various scars she found. Even...

She went very quiet when she saw it, her hands stilling on my forearm, fingers splaying as if to hide it, them, from view.

She finished up and changed for bed and when we crawled in, she held me the whole night, tucking me under her arm and chin, hugging me close. She smelt like black cherry body wash, and something that I recognised as coming from her poison cooking, it clung to her even now after the bath, sunk into her skin and couldn't be shifted.

It was difficult sleeping with Bianchi wrapped around me like that. A lot of books would say the main character had never felt safer, or they slept more soundly in the arms of their loved one, but the fact is... if you've been apart for a long time, it's awkward. You don't know how to fit together anymore. Someone holding you is foreign, someone breathing near you is distracting. Every shift of my sister in the bedding, of Nana on our otherside, Lambo talking in his sleep in the next room, I was hyper-aware of all of it, even hearing the clock on the bedside table ticking and the little red light from Nana's mobile phone charger on the otherside of the room disturbed me. Everything was alien and wrong.

I did not sleep well.

But a sleepless night was worth it when Bianchi woke up and smiled so softly at me, her grip shifting as she stroked my hair and my face and pressed our forehead together.

"I missed you," she whispered before kissing the crown of my hair.

"I missed you too," I returned quietly, gripping her upperarm as she nuzzled into my hair.

The sound of Reborn waking Tsuna up quite handily shattered the peaceful atmosphere, and Bianchi sighed with lovestruck admiration. I tried not to grimace.

Mornings in the Sawada household were more chaotic than I first thought (and boy was I glad I had my own place now). Breakfast was an absolute free for all though thankfully Reborn deemed it beneath him to steal off the plates of ladies, but that meant absolutely nothing for Tsuna and Lambo as the latter found himself without food and the former got perhaps a mouthful or two before his bowl was empty as well. When I tried to share, Reborn rather flatly reminded me that I hadn't made a bento for the day. Which meant no lunch for me until I got home. Fuck.

I patted myself down and felt the outline of my cigarettes in my pocket so at least it wasn't a total loss. A pair of them would take the edge off my hunger enough that I could wait out until the end of club activities and rustle up a decent meal when I got home.

What I didn't expect, as Tsuna, Reborn and I walked to school, was a semi-familiar girl balancing precariously upon a wall in front of us, her face flushed as she held something of a comical stance. I frowned. That ponytail... Haru?

She bowed, "Hello," she greeted, her words directed at Reborn who stood on the wall opposite her.

"Ciaossu," was the non-plussed return.

"My name... is Miura Haru," she said, her face flushing as she looked down at the Arcobaleno with something approaching a creepy level of interest.

"I know about you. You're from this house, right?" the Hitman asked, rudely pointing directly at it. No doubt he knew about the girl having researched all the teenagers in the local area to see if they would be compatible for Tsuna's Famiglia. Haru would have been researched but ultimately discarded as she had no Flame Alignment, though he would have kept an eye on her simply due to her academic records and physical appearance. An intelligent, pretty young lady could be of later use, either as girlfriend material for Tsuna, or simply as a possibly ally in the future once she was older.

"Would you be my friend?" Haru asked sweetly.

"Sure," Reborn allowed, as if granting her a favour. I twitched in alarm as the girl shrieked and toppled backwards off the wall. She landed neatly and whooped happily. I hadn't realised she was such a weirdo at the beginning of the manga. It was kind of cute, honestly. I chuckled a little, shifting my backpack.

"Erm... Uhm... It's rather sudden, but... can you hug me... like this?" she asked, wrapping her arms around herself. I blinked, how long did she think Reborn's arms were? He looked like a two year old.

"Don't touch me so easily," Reborn scolded her. He, much like myself, probably felt that as a Hitman he was covered in far too much blood and death for innocent schoolgirls like Miura Haru to touch. "'cause I'm a Hitman," he declared, producing a gun from behind him. I shook my head, that man, he really needed to start censoring himself when it came to informing civilians about such things. I really wondered why the Vindice hadn't gone and gotten mighty ornery about his constant breaking of Omerta.

Tsuna, understandably, panicked. "Hey, Reborn, don't say such things in the middle of the day!" he shouted, not wanting to frighten the girl who looked as if someone had just informed her that a family member had died. I knew Haru was aware of the mafia thing, unlike Kyoko, but I hadn't thought she was so gullible as to believe it right from the off (though I couldn't actually remember exactly how Haru came to be involved with the group. All I knew was that she... was actually quite useless. She had no purpose being there apart from as a second potential girlfriend for Tsuna, and as Kyoko's new bestfriend).

It happened quickly.

One moment Tsuna was snapping at Reborn.

The next, Haru's open palm was cracking into his cheek, throwing his head to one side.

And then my knuckles planted themselves firmly into her eyesocket.

Haru was screaming, Tsuna was yelling, Reborn just watched, and I cracked my knuckles and contemplated whether or not I should leave the girl there, or have _words_ with her regarding her attacking my bestfriend. Fuck what kind of girl she showed herself to be in the manga, clearly she wasn't all that.

"You ever raise your hand to him again, I'll break every bone in it, understood?" I demanded, crouching down in front of the girl. I'll give her this, she stands up for her beliefs, and she had more of a spine than any of the other normal people in Namimori that I had encountered.

She immediately jumped to her feet, staggering slightly with a hand clamped over her injured eye, "BABIES ARE ANGELS WITH PURE WHITE HEARTS! HE'S TEACHING REBORN-CHAN ASSASSINATION TECHNIQUES! HE'S DESTROYING THAT LOVELY PURENESS WITH THAT ROTTEN HEART OF HIS!" she shrieked, pointing to the pint-sized Hitman with her other hand.

I looked at Reborn, mind going a million miles an hour, "Baby?" I echoed doubtfully. He and I both damn well knew he was no child. "How rude! He's older than _both_ of us put together! Reborn-san has a rare degenerative condition, he only _looks_ like an infant!" I snarled getting in her face, squaring up to her as if we were animals on the discovery channel, looming over her significantly shorter form even as she straightened up and threw her chest out.

Haru froze as my words sank in, "D-degenerative, you mean, he isn't... a baby?" she questioned, confused.

"No," I snipped, "Once he was a fully grown adult man, but when he was diagnosed with Arcobaleno Syndrome, he started to regress, eventually, he will regress even further. It is a fatal condition. Thankfully, as I said, an exceptionally rare one that takes up to thirty, sometimes even forty years. Very, very few people are ever infected. In fact, there has never been over ten individuals afflicted at any one time. Ever. They retain all their mental faculties, so, if you would _cease_ being so insulting to Reborn-san we would all be grateful and on our way," I sneered darkly as I shoved the girl to one side and marched Tsuna past her towards school.

"That was quick thinking," Reborn observed with something approaching respect in his tone of amusement once we were around the corner.

I hummed, "I've researched the Arcobaleno before, probably nothing you haven't already looked into. But at least if you use the Degenerative Condition excuse you'll be able to enjoy some of your former vices." Not that looking like a two year old had _ever_ stopped Reborn from getting the coffee he craved, but hey, at least if he busted out that excuse he wouldn't need to pull his gun on hapless baristas who were only doing their jobs.

"Why would you research us?" he asked curiously.

Tread lightly, I reminded myself.

"It's a pretty old term," I admitted evasively, "Older even than the Vongola itself. I was both curious, and suspicious. I... may have a slight thing for conspiracy theories," I blushed. It was quite surprising how many of Gokudera Hayato's interests were actually similar to my own. Sci-fi and Occult, Chemistry, even music – I'd always wanted to learn how to play the piano, or the violin, but Aggie's parents never had the money for her to learn and she didn't want to seem ungrateful for what she already had, so she never brought it up, but promised herself that if the opportunity ever arose for her own children she would give them that chance to learn. It was one of the main driving factors that had me continuing to practice even after I was thrown out.

Thankfully neither of them pursued it further, though Tsuna freaked out a little over my hitting of that girl with a closed fist. It wound me up some in honesty. If she didn't want a fight then she shouldn't have made the first move. Normally I would have called it insulting to go at someone with anything less than your best, but she was just a sawed off pipsqueak with momma issues and a baby fetish. That was someone I would have to meet at their own low, low level.

I skipped first period with Nezu, instead, I stole away behind the science block for a smoke to sooth my jangled nerves. A few of the DC found me, I bribed them to shut the fuck up with a few cigarettes and the four of us just stood in relaxed silence as we puffed our way through them. I finished first, bade them a goodbye, tossed back a softmint from the packet I always kept on me, and went to class. By this point in time, Nezu had stopped bollocking me for coming in late as I usually gave a good excuse. When he asked what it was this time I just told him that my sister had unexpectedly flown over from Italy, and I was getting her settled in.

I ate with both Tsuna and Takeshi, and at the end of the day went to Archery practice before walking halfway home with Takeshi who had just finished with baseball practice. Tsuna was already at his place seeing as he didn't have any club activities and I'd managed to get him out of classroom duties by giving anyone who would try to foist them off on him the evil eye.

I'd gotten better at making riceballs, they weren't anything approaching Tsuyoshi-san's quality of work, but they weren't bitter and misshapen anymore. I stuffed two with salmon and a final with crab before making some Oolong tea for myself – Shifu had given me a taste for it. After eating I had about an hour to get my homework done and go to work, thankfully it was fairly easy stuff, writing the answers down took longer than working them out and I was able to have a quick shower before heading out too.

I completely missed the girl lurking behind the bins watching me.

My sister didn't.

_**000**_

Coming home at two AM to find Miura Haru sprawled out half dead from poison outside my flat was not particularly how I wanted my evening to end. I could smell my sister in this, and as _irritating_ as I found Haru, especially after this morning, she was just a kid who was trying to do what she perceived as the right thing. I hauled her dumbass-self up and got her into my flat where I put her to bed, got her to swallow some quickly made antidote and then spent the rest of the night gently mopping her forehead as I tried to keep her fever down and stop her from choking on her own vomit – or get it all over my belongings.

I don't know how she reacted when she woke up to find herself in my flat, I had passed out into an exhausted sleep somewhen at about six thirty to seven-ish, still in my work clothes, sat next to the bed. When I did wake up, she was upright in my bed, cradling a large photoframe, the one I kept on my bedside table next to my glasses. It was one of those multiple picture frames, I only had a few pictures in there as right now there were very few people in the world I could consider my friends. I had one of Bianchi, when we were young. I had cut both my father and myself out of it, I didn't want to look at myself as I was then, miserable and forced into a role that wasn't my own. There was one of my mother that I dug out of her during her pianist days, before her illness struck, she was beautiful, sat at a piano in an improbably peach-pink silk and chiffon evening dress, her long hair pinned to one side with a large tropical red, pink, and white lily. Alexi, a friend from Russia and a member of the Geigue famiglia, we had taken a selfie just after a job when we had stopped off at a teashop, he didn't know about me, he just thought I was a cute girl who could blow him up, and for a Russian assassin, that was apparently something attractive because he spent the WHOLE mission doing nothing but flirting outrageously with me. The final two pictures were of myself with both Shifu or Shigu. Shifu guiding me through a few stances as we sweated under the midday sun, my forearms wrapped in dirty bandages from the many times he had thrown me to the floor or across the training field, my training clothes were an absolute mess, my hair wasn't much better, scraped back into a tight braid that was half-coming undone and dirty as all hell. The other picture, where I was with Shigu, was nicer. We were clean, smiling, aware of the camera and striking poses with laughs, Shifu had taken the picture, it was a warm day and we had decided to take it off to relax under the plum blossom tree, both Shigu and I were giving the camera peace-signs and grinning toothily.

"This is your sister?" Haru asked, fingers grazing Bianchi's picture.

I stretched, grimacing as I heard my back crackle and pop along with my knuckles, elbows, and shoulders. "Yeah. Sorry about her attacking you last night," I stated as I climbed to my feet and then checked her temperature, good, it was down, _way_ down from last night. I pulled down one of her eyelids and didn't see any traces of the pink-eye she had either. Antidote worked then.

"She was trying to protect you," Haru mused absently.

"Probably," I agreed. "You hungry?" I asked as I made my way to the kitchen, absolutely famished. I dug out a few left over riceballs from yesterday and plated them up for her, pouring two small glasses of milk before handing them over. We ate in silence, Haru seemingly too embarrassed, or frightened, to speak. "So, care to explain why you were outside my place anyway? Oneechan doesn't move the bodies she leaves behind once she's hit them with her poison cooking," I explained as I glanced over to the dark haired girl.

"I... I was watching you. I didn't believe you when you said that Reborn-chan had that Degenerative Condition. I looked it up online. I couldn't find anything but pictures of rainbows and a few Italian corporations and stuff. So I knew you were lying so I watched, so I could rescue Reborn-chan," she quietly admitted.

I sighed in frustration, "Of course you weren't going to find anything online. For a disease that affects less than ten people at a time, do you honestly think anyone is going to notice or care about it? Never mind that the majority of people who _are_ affected are part of the underground. Criminals. Reborn-san wasn't lying when he said he was a hitman. Before he got the Condition he was considered the best in the world. No one cares about assassins, Miura-san. We keep our ills to ourselves," I explained dully as I stared out of the window, a few birds flying past drawing my eye.

She went quiet after that, for which I could only be thankful. We finished eating and I changed for school, boxed up a half-hearted attempt at a bento, stuck my homework in my bag, and ushered Haru back home. Even going so far as to escort her there before continuing on my way to Namimori.

And if I gave my sister a hug and a kiss, well, no one was going to call me on it.

_**000**_

Summer break. So much time off, I could sing.

Except my common sense suddenly kicked in and suggested extra hours at the conveni in order to pad my savings. So I made it known that I would be interested, and to my great surprise, my Boss actually took me up on the offer. I got pencilled in for a few extra hours here and there so my colleagues could take a few days off here and there without having to get someone new in, or ask for an agency worker.

Downside, I was unable to help Tsuna and Takeshi with their summer homework when the future Rain Guardian asked me.

Brightside, Haru hadn't approached us even once. Hell, if anything, it seemed like she was avoiding us. I wondered, briefly, why she wasn't getting more involved before I reminded myself that I didn't care, and upon thinking about it, she had, in fact, been greeted with nothing but hostility by all of us thus far. It was hard to see anyone sticking around after that kind of treatment. I wondered idly one slow sticky hot afternoon what changes that would bring about in the future, but I honestly couldn't think of any. At least nothing in terms of major plot-points.

What time I had during that summer that wasn't absorbed by Tsuna, Takeshi, or work, was dedicated entirely to my studies into Flame Receptive metals and jewels. I'd gotten into contact with Alexi back in Russia, exchanging a few words and some cash, plus favours, in order to get my hands on a set of Flame Receptive Rings of varying quality. I had about six different rings, two Sun, one Storm, one Rain, a Cloud, and a Mist. The Mist, obviously, did not respond to my efforts to activate it, but I was able to feel something of it, enough to further my research. Alexi had really pulled through for me, the Storm Ring he forwarded was by far the highest quality of the lot currently laid out on a velvet skirt I'd put over the table.

I learned that the jewels alone weren't enough, that the _metal_ was also essential. One of the rings didn't have a jewel at all, and for over a week I assumed that the jewels just bolstered the power of the Flame, but then I got a good look at the jewel-less Sun Ring one morning when a shaft of early morning sunshine was particularly bright. There was crushed stone present in the metal. Picking out the jewel from the other Sun Ring, I discovered that the stones actually _stored_ Flame to a better degree and focused it, much like a glass lens would a laser, providing more control.

Before too long though, it was time to return to school. If it weren't for Tsuna and Takeshi, I'm pretty sure I would have ditched in a heartbeat. Going through standard education once was bad enough, twice was just a nightmare – especially when I had something that interesting waiting to be explored at home!

I may have been a little late that first day, I was significantly reluctant to return to Namimori.

"Morning, Aya-chan!" Takeshi chirped as I slogged into the classroom a few minutes before the bell.

"Morning, Takeshi," I grunted, ignoring the glowers of his fangirls over the fact that I would dare speak to him without an honorific. They could bite me. We don't use them in Italy, or Scotland. Holding your friends at arms length was considered rude.

"Whoo-a, you got new rings?" he asked, pointing down to my hand. I blinked and looked down, even though I knew what was there (I had already acquired myself a Namimori accent to my Japanese, and started to copy some of the body language and habits around me, if I kept this up I'd start screaming 'kyah' when I got punched in the face), I'd stuck the Flame rings on before I left intending on continuing my study of them in the school library after I'd stolen an eyeglass or some kind of microscope from the geology/science department.

"Mmm, they're magic," I told him with a smirk as I waggled the shiny in his general direction. He, of course, laughed not believing me. I chuckled, making a mental note to get some working replicas as soon as possible. Being able to use Flames _before_ the fight with the VARIA would go a long way to keeping most of our group alive and well.

Then Tsuna slumped in, looking dejected, and a little ruffled.

"Aya-chaaaan, what do I doooo?" he sobbed as he reached us, grabbing my shirt sleeve and giving me the most desolate puppy-eyed I had ever seen on a human face that didn't belong to Lambo. "Kyoko-chan's older brother wants me to join the Boxing Team!"

Ah.

It was that time then.

I patted his hand, "I'll talk to Sasagawa-senpai, see if I can't convince him to give you a bye," I said keeping my doubts to myself. Ryohei was a stubborn one, and Reborn wanted him for the family, which meant he was going to orchestrate _something_ in order to throw the two together and establish some kind of bond.

Maybe I should call Shifu and ask him for some advice on teaching Tsuna some basic self-defence?

_**000**_

**And chapter end! Now we're finally getting somewhere!**

**Also, sorry to any Haru fans, but she won't be present in this story. She literally had no purpose in the canon beyond baby-sitter and alternative girlfriend for Tsuna. She was perhaps one of my least-liked female characters even though she had a lot more potential to be interesting AND an active part in the story than Kyoko for that alone. Bianchi had a lot of potential too, but ****that**** fell by the wayside in favour of babysitting and playing House with Nana XP**


	8. C8- What is Owed

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER EIGHT  
What is Owed**

She could have screamed in frustration. Or thrown Sasagawa Ryohei under a bus without a single iota of remorse.

It was like he didn't even _hear_ her, or she was speaking a completely foreign language. Even when she tried to meet him on his own level he brushed her off with a careless '_This is between men, you wouldn't understand_'. She wondered if he would respect her more if she blackened both his eyes, broke his nose, and had him shitting out the majority of his molars? She stalked away from the little talk they had at lunch time wanting to punch something – thankfully she was able to soothe that by retreating to her little smoking spot and lighting up. The nicotine settling her frayed nerves and simmering temper back down.

It had been several _months_ now, why was she still so easily wound up? Idiots aside, she wasn't usually this hot tempered.

She sighed and made a mental note to start meditation again soon, she would be useless to Tsuna if she allowed her temper to run hot and out of control. Gokudera may have gotten away with it in canon, but as she already established, she was not he, and she was going to have to handle things differently and with care.

She kept her mouth shut as they trailed after Tsuna when he went to go and face Ryohei in the ring after classes, her face set in a rictus of irritation as she hung towards the back of the group while Kyoko and Takeshi cheered for Tsuna. Aggie's dad had been a Boxer when he had been in the navy, so she knew their typical weaknesses. The problem here was that this was a _boxing_ match, and Tsuna couldn't use them. She was _definitely_ going to have to teach him some Kenpo, Street Fighting, Krav Maga, anything.

Then 'Master Paopao' (Reborn, the Cosplay Fetishist) hit the both of them with the Dying Will Bullet, and the fight went about as expected by comparison to Canon.

She shook her head as Ryohei declared his increased admiration for Tsuna, after he got punched through a window. She was beginning to see how her Canon-Counterpart found him difficult to tolerate, he had a very... _grating_ personality, and none of the same charm that Lambo had either. She wondered if there was any chance they could trade Ryohei for someone else in terms of becoming the Sun Guardian before shaking the thought off, aware it wouldn't be happening. The resemblance between Sasagawa Ryohei and Knuckle, the Primo Sun Guardian, was astounding, Reborn wasn't going to pass that up.

It was after Takeshi had peeled off to attend Baseball Practice, and she was about to leave for Archery that she saw it.

Tsuna had literally just finished changing and was on his way out of the school gates when he staggered a little, wobbling to one side – a black smudge on his palm catching her eye.

"That's called Skullitis," Reborn noted from where he was sat on the railings, radiating death and doom. "It's an incurable disease, you're going to die, Tsuna."

"WHY ALL OF A SUDDEN?!" he shrieked looking between his tutor and the mark in disbelief. "What are you saying? Blubbering out such bad omens?! Are you Shinigami? That was the worst explanation ever!" he complained as Aya quickly hurried over, catching his wrist and looking down at the skull inked upon his palm. He tried to ignore how pale and upset she suddenly looked.

"Do you know how many Dying Will Bullets you've been shot in the head with?" the Hitman asked almost rhetorically.

Tsuna frowned as he felt Aya's grip tighten on his hand, this... this could be bad... was he joking? She didn't seem to think so. "H-How many? I don't know, I didn't keep count," he admitted nervously.

"Exactly ten bullets," the Hitman stated, "When you're killed with the Dying Will Bullet, it's said that something horrible will happen to the victim after he's been struck the tenth time." There was a pause and then the Arcobaleno brightened up with almost malicious amusement, "Who would've known that it would be such an incurable disease. _Too Bad._"

"DON'T END IT RIGHT THERE!" Tsuna shrieked, "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing like this earlier! If I knew - " He would have still caught it because trying to stop Reborn from doing what he wanted was like that crazy Roman Emperor declaring war on Posidon and looking to win by having his soldiers go out on the beaches and _stab_ the tides, as if it would actually work. He sighed, "I'm going home," he declared.

"You're handling it better than I expected," Reborn noted, a little surprised.

"Obviously. Who would believe something like an incurable disease called Skullitis? This will come off if I wash it, most likely," he muttered under his breath as he turned away and started walking back home.

Aya waited until he was gone before she exchanged a look with the tiny hitman, "You're going to call Shamal, aren't you?" she asked flatly, making the Hitman look down at her.

"Is there going to be a problem?"

"Most likely. You know he doesn't treat men. Is this disease _really_ deadly, or are you pranking him again?" she asked suspiciously, green eyes narrowing on him.

Reborn shook his head, "Unfortunately, it _is_ real, and it is quite deadly. The toxins from the bullets rise to the surface of the skin, hence the black skull patterns. Due to the nature and location of the shot, secrets that the victim would desperately try to keep hidden are also etched into the skin. Stress from the revealed secrets, coupled with the toxicity of the markings, often pushes the body into organ failure the longer it goes on as the toxins have to gather first before rising, often times starting in the liver," he explained dully, watching as the young woman's countenance darkened threateningly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her school bag.

"He doesn't treat men," she repeated tightly, green eyes narrowed. "Is there anyone else?"

"No."

Her lips pressed together tightly and she quickly hurried after Tsuna without another word to the tiny Hitman as she struggled to gain a measure of self control. She had six years to contemplate what she would do to Shamal if they ever ran into each other again, and time and again, she told herself that she would never do such things to him, she wasn't a vengeful sort. But if Tsuna died... If he killed Tsuna with his fucking sexism... She may just find the motivation.

The walk back to Tsuna's place was spent lost in her own thoughts, she gave her sister a hug as she came in and immediately moved towards the kettle to get some tea while Tsuna made his way to the bathroom in order to wash his hands. If Shamal were going to be appearing, she was going to need as much stability as possible, tea would hopefully provide that.

There was a knock at the door and she froze. Bianchi went to answer it of course.

"Bianchi-_chwaaan_!"

"STOP IT!"

"GUH!" The sound of Poison Cooking impacting someone's face had never sounded to satisfying to her ears before. Perhaps it was because she knew that the second the door opened he was trying to land his lips on her sister. That or she knew it was the man responsible for so much hurt and pain and _fear_ she had felt in her life.

Tsuna appeared and panicked at the sight of someone sprawled out on the floor, a victim of poison cooking.

"It's been a while since I last killed someone for the good of the world," Bianchi noted, sounding annoyed and pleased with herself at the same time.

"You – Don't kill people in my house!" Tsuna shrieked.

"Such a tomboy, as usual," Shamal's voice noted affectionately. "Girls should be like that," he cooed happily, "Now I like you even more!"

"DIE!" The sound of Bianchi's foot impacting his face, and throwing him into a wall was _also_ satisfying.

"Wh-who is that trespasser?" Tsuna asked weakly.

"He's the Doctor I was talking about," Reborn stated, watching the goings on with amusement, gaze flickering to the motionless girl in the kitchen every once in a while. She was very noticeably remaining absent. He was guessing that she would only involve herself when Shamal refused to treat Tsuna – which could be both bad, and amusing. He wondered how deeply her resentment ran, and how Shamal would react to coming face to face with his biggest mistake.

"Whaaa?!"

"I called him over from Italy, Doctor Shamal. As you can see, he likes woman, and he's a kissing freak. He and Aya-chan have some history," he explained, watching as Shamal once again tried to kiss Bianchi only to get a deadly cake to the face.

"Can a guy like him... really cure an incurable disease? I mean, is he really a doctor?" the young Sky asked desperately, confused. Shamal did not act as if he were a doctor. Weren't they supposed to be professional? Calm and collected? Or at least while they were on the job making house calls to the terminally ill!

"Yeah, he took care of me as well," Reborn assured his young student, suppressing a smirk. Took care of. Yeah. As in, erased all records of his existence after he was cursed, pretended to be his father for a time so the authorities didn't get it into their heads to do something everyone would regret. His girlfriend at the time had even jokingly declared herself - "He's the one that took me from my mother." Typically because he didn't like how Reborn was sweet-talking her better than he could. He was such a jealous little brat in those days.

"YOUR BIRTH?!" Tsuna misunderstood. "That's an obstetrician. Though, I can actually see that happening," he muttered. Oh? Tsuna knew something of medicine? That was news to him. But regardless.

"Shamal, this is Tsuna with Skullitis," the Arcobaleno stated, flicking his Sun Flame in order to remind the Mist User exactly why he was there and to stop fucking around. And if Aya flinched in the kitchen, no one but he was aware of it (He knew she was aware of Flames, but had she already discovered how to use them? Was she actually Flame Sensitive? That was quite rare).

Shamal immediately straightened up, at least as far as he was willing to go, hmph, he had been drinking. "Hm? Oh yeah, that was why I was called over. Sorry about that, I seem to be oblivious of my surroundings at times. Excuse me," he said cheerily, smiling benignly at the thirteen year old boy before firmly pressing both palms against his chest and squishing his fingers.

Tsuna spluttered. And Shamal took his hands away, looking vaguely queasy and apologetic at the same time.

"Sorry, but I don't examine guys," he said as if it weren't someone's life in his hands.

"WHAT?!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Reborn chimed in.

"HEY! Hey, wait up! No way! You plan to watch me die because of a reason like that?" Tsuna spluttered, horrified.

"What do you mean, just 'a reason like that'? There's a big differe- " Anything else he had to say was suddenly cut off. Aya stormed out of the kitchen, her elbow and forearm snapping out and around the Doctor's throat in a clothes line move and she dragged him outside.

Tsuna squeaked, "Wha- what? Aya-chan - "

Reborn shook his head, "I told you, Dame-Tsuna. Shamal and Aya have history."

Bianchi folded her arms, "I've tried to kill him so many times for what he did to her. But he's like a cockroach," she complained bitterly. Oh? That was news to Reborn, he hadn't thought the relationship between Bianchi and Shamal was that bad stemming from his treatment of her sister. He had been under the impression it was due to the sexual harassment – though thinking about it, that wouldn't have helped his case any.

Outside, Aya pulled the staggering and startled Doctor around into the garden and dumped his ass into the grass. His voice. Gods, she felt _so_ many mixed emotions. Anger, rage, hate, hurt, confusion – she wanted to put an arrow through his eye socket, choke him with a Shrapnel bomb, wanted to shout and scream and _HIT_ him, _hurt_ him until she stopped feeling so goddamn betrayed, so confused, as if it were _her_ fault that he did that to her, until he _hurt_ as much as she did. Until he had felt everything she had, and taken some fucking responsibility for ruining her life and shitting all over her family at their weakest moment.

She stalked a few paces away, keeping her back to him as she tried to wrestle herself under control. She was unwilling to drag him out onto the street, semi-aware of how the Japanese viewed public confrontations. She didn't want to bring any negative attention down onto Tsuna's head, not for _this_ sad sack of shit. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a steadying breath. She needed to control herself. Punching him in the face, and neglecting to stop until there was nothing left, would not help Tsuna. It would leave him up shit creek without a paddle so she _needed to control herself_. They needed the perverted Doctor, as much as she wanted to kill him.

"You have no idea how much I want to hurt you right now, Tridant Shamal," she finally admitted, her voice tight with suppressed emotion. "Years of imagining how this moment would be, how it would unfold. What I would do to you, what I would say to you. And now that I'm here... I find myself unable to remember a single word of all those careful speeches I had planned, the lectures and quotes and philosophical arguments, even the scientific and medical references I was so ready to throw in your face."

She took another breath and turned to face him, offering a bitter smile.

"But you _owe_ me, none the less, Shamal," she warned him, her voice hard.

"I'm not sure we've ever met," he admitted sceptically as he brushed himself off, before grinning, "I'm sure I'd have remembered a young lady as pretty as you," he cooed, darting forward and managing to land a kiss on the corner of her mouth before she could pull back.

The explosion of Storm Flames around her hand immediately had his eyes widening and his whole body jerking backwards as he realised just what calibre of individual he was dealing with.

"Eight years ago, your Sky died," she hissed ruthlessly, making his eyes widen even further and his face bleach of all colour. That was not known. Barely _ANYONE_ knew that he had been a Guardian, was a Guardian, is a _Failed_ Guardian. "You were raw, bleeding, hurting too much that you didn't care about anyone or anything. Eight years ago, I put my bleeding heart in your hands, I looked to you for help as a medical professional. I poured my fucking _soul_ out to you," his mouth opened in horror, and he staggered back a step, but the girl forged onwards, throwing her words with a viciousness more befitting a stone, "and you destroyed it. Crushed it. You threw it back in my face and you tore my family apart with it, left us to pick up the pieces and try to carry on. You _owe_ me, Shamal. You have no excuse for what you did. And now, you're willing to sit back and let _my_ Sky die in front of you," she spat a split second before she ignited the other four Flames, her arms flickering with scarlet, gold, emerald, turquoise, and violet, flaring _hard_ beneath his disbelieving gaze. "I've had _six_ long years, Shamal, to contemplate what I would do to you for your actions. Six long years of _experiencing_ several of them, so I can promise you that it will be painful. But right now, I'm willing to let that go, clean slate, wiped away. We never met, you never fucked me over. If you do what Reborn is paying you to do, and help Tsuna.

"If not... Well, I've always been curious if a Sun Flame would keep someone alive longer than three days, maybe even long enough for their skin to grow back after I've _flayed_ it from them. Inch. By. Inch."

Shamal healed Tsuna and left the house without a word.

No one asked what was said, and Aya spent the night once again curled up clinging to her older sister, trying not to let anyone realise that she was crying herself to sleep, and hating herself the whole while for shedding tears over that sad sack of shit at all.

_**000**_

"It's fall already. Summer Vacation ended to suddenly, and now I kinda feel sad," Tsuna lamented in amusement as he sipped his drink.

"We spent all summer attending supplemental classes too," Takeshi chuckled, giving his milk carton a rattle to see if there was anymore inside, only a little.

Aya sighed, "Speak for yourselves. It feels like I didn't get a holiday at all," she complained as she made a few notes in her Flame Research book. Right now she was looking into whether or not the number of facets in the cut of them gem affected the quality of Flame Output. She hadn't been making much process on that front, she just didn't have enough in the way of Flame Receptive jewels in varying cuts for a proper comparison, or analysis. The three of them were sat comfortably on the roof enjoying their lunch break in the warm sunshine and gentle cooling breeze before they had to head back inside for History class.

"Maybe next time we can hang out properly?" Takeshi suggested with a broad grin, "Ooh, we can go to the beach, and eat watermelon," he cheered.

"Chestnuts are good too," a voice interrupted even as Tsuna shrieked in pain, a pair of spiky-shelled chestnuts impacting his back and shoulder. "Ciaossu," Reborn greeted as he sidled over, once again in an outrageous cosplay, and began to press up against Tsuna – stabbing him with the many spines on his chestnut cosplay.

"Ooooowww! You're stabbing me!" Tsuna protested, trying to recoil away.

"This is a camouflage suit for secret agents, Autumn Style," the Arcobaleno informed him.

"I bet a hundred out of a hundred people would look right back at you!" Tsuna yelled, flustered, "And didn't I tell you not to show up at school?!" he shrieked as Reborn casually stripped and changed into his regular clothing.

"We'll make a Hideout for the Family," he declared, completely out of the blue.

Aya paused. A hide out for the family?

"A secret base huh? Heh, sounds fun," Takeshi decided with a smile.

"It's decided then," Reborn declared.

"Where are we gunna make it? The mountain behind school?" Takeshi asked brightly, obviously assuming that Reborn meant a kiddy hide-out like they used to make in Elementary School.

"We'll use the Reception Room of the School," the Hitman corrected making Aya sigh and close her notebook.

Yeah. It was about that time, wasn't it?

Time to deal with Hibari.

"The Reception Room is almost never used. The furnitures and the views are good and the geographical location is excellent," the Arcobaleno informed them, a very tiny smirk curling at the corners of his mouth.

Aya noticeably didn't say anything as she packed away her notebook and secured her stuff. Reborn knew immediately that she was aware of what he was doing, the way she was stowing her explosives away for a non-lethal confrontation, and a few other things as well, even going so far as to store her bracelets in her bag at the same time as her earrings was telling. She was expecting a fight. He chuckled to himself, the confrontation between the future Storm and the future Cloud would be interesting, he wondered how the two would measure up against one another. Aya was not the kind of fighter one should take lightly, conversely, Hibari was nothing to sneeze at either.

Takeshi went first, "Hee, I didn't think we had such a good room - " he noted only to pause when he spotted the occupant already there, casually perched on the back of one of the three seater leather couches.

"Who are you?" Hibari Kyouya demanded shortly, eyes flicking over what he could see of the small group.

'_We got caught by a troublesome one..._' Takeshi thought grimly, feeling a chill in his blood.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER END and we're finally getting into the good stuff.**

**Yeah, Aya and Shamal had their confrontation in this chapter, but luckily for him Aya had more important things to worry about and she isn't really the senselessly violent or vengeful type. Gods that confrontation was hard to write. It's had two rewrites – no, tell a lie, three rewrites, thus far. And I haven't liked a single one of them XDDD**


	9. C9- Hibari Kyouya

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER NINE  
Hibari Kyouya**

Last time:

_Takeshi went first, "Hee, I didn't think we had such a good room - " he noted only to pause when he spotted the occupant already there, casually perched on the back of one of the three seater leather couches._

"_Who are you?" Hibari Kyouya demanded shortly, eyes flicking over what he could see of the small group._

_'_We got caught by a troublesome one..._' Takeshi thought grimly, feeling a chill in his blood._

And now:

It was probably either a comment on my age, or the fact that I'd encountered individuals a great deal more powerful and less egotistical than the boy in front of me, but I just found the supposed Dictator of Namimori, it's Iron Hammer of Discipline, Hibari Kyouya... decidedly underwhelming.

I couldn't exactly call him pretty, his features were too sharp for that, definitely good looking. But most of all, to me, he just looked _young_. Spouting off pre-schooler logic really wasn't helping him, I decided as he spoke.

"I really hate weak herbivorous animals that form groups. Whenever I see them, I really want to bite them to death," he purred lowly, slowly lifting an arm, tonfa in hand.

Surreptitiously, I shifted a foot backwards, preparing for the fight that was about to break out.

"Whoa, it's my first time being in the Reception Room!" Tsuna said enthusiastically as he slipped in front of both Takeshi and myself, I startled, and Hibari struck.

"One."

Tsuna went down as the Prefect's tonfa clashed into the side of his head hard enough to throw him into the wall.

"Tsuna!" I ran to him immediately, I hadn't felt his Flame react to the blow the same way it had when Reborn struck him – that kind of hit could give him a concussion! What the hell was that brat thinking? Hitting Tsuna that hard! No blood, just a nasty bruise. I pulled down one of his eyelids and to my great relief his pupils reacted fine, dilating against the sudden onslought of afternoon sunlight.

"Are you injured? You seem to be protecting your right hand. Bingo," the Prefect declared behind me as a sickening thud struck my ears and Takeshi went flying with a painfilled grunt.

"Two," he declared before turning towards me as I slowly climbed to my feet. He gave me a look up and down and made a small sound that I had only ever heard from cats before now, a hiff, and turned away, "They won't wake up. I hit them to make sure of that. Suit yourself here, I'll call an ambulance for them."

My blood burned, and I could feel a hard knot form in my stomach. I took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, feeling the tingle of adrenalin in the tips of my fingers. I grinned. All teeth and vicious intent. It wasn't very pretty.

"Yeah? Why don't you call yourself one TOO?" I snarled lunging forward.

Of all things, I think getting attacked by the girl threw him off the most.

My palm thrust into his stomach like a lance, bending him double with a whoosh of expelled hair – and brought his face down into my knee as I rammed it up with a punishing crack that could have very possibly been his nose.

I didn't see the blow that hammered into my side, but I knew I would be feeling it for _weeks_.

I staggered to one side and twisted, bringing my fist down on the side of his head, throwing my weight behind the blow – he shifted out of the way, but I scored enough of a glancing blow to send him spinning towards the floor even as I went down too, planting a hand on the linoleum and using it as a pivot to throw a kick at the Prefect.

He blocked it with a tonfa and grunted as he threw me off, my leg swinging in an upward arc that would have thrown a great deal of people off balance – people that hadn't been trained by my Shifu.

I kicked off with my other leg, using his throw as extra momentum to ram a kick into his thigh that threw his leg akimbo and sent him off balance as I spun and landed in a crouch.

His grin was all teeth as he smiled at me. Stood six paces apart, there was a lull as I slowly climbed to my feet and he gently tested his leg.

"You are no herbivore," he observed with a blood thirsty grin as I placed a hand against my hip, rubbing the no doubt blossoming black bruise.

"Hippos are herbivores, and they've killed more people than lions," I pointed out softly as I shifted, cracking my shoulders and neck, "And more cows have killed humans than even sharks. Your logic is flawed. The most successful of Carnivores tend to form groups."

He hmphed in annoyance and readied his tonfa, grey eyes narrowing. I smirked a little knowing I had irritated him, and took a deep breath.

In, hold, release. Sink into peace, you are the eye in the storm. You are the centre of peace in the middle of the chaos, the storm that tears all around it to pieces. You are the storm, your core is calm, your arms are a hurricane, your legs are a typhoon. A storm is never still.

Something like recognition flickered in his eyes as I lowered myself into a familiar, if somewhat rusty stance. I should practice more, I decided as I slowly let the deep breath out.

And went on the attack.

While I _was_ faster, Hibari did have better reach on me with his weapons, however, if he wished to make use of his full strength he needed to shorten that reach, which allowed me to step into close range combat. Not my forte, but I was most certainly better than anyone else currently in the school, perhaps with the exception of Hibari himself. The problem was beating him without _hurting_ him. He was still going to be a Guardian, an ally, and as much of an asshole as he is, he was strong and we needed him in top form. I couldn't risk anything long-term or alienating him from the Famiglia. Which made this fight _that_ much more difficult, because I could beat him, easily. I just might accidentally end up killing him – hence why I had removed all temptation of using explosives or my Flames by taking the rings off and stowing the bombs in my bag. Shifu's style was a martial art developed specifically with Flame Combat in mind, it was only half as effective without.

Turning aside the rain of tonfa blows was difficult, my palms were numb and my elbows ached as I carefully redirected the blows, crossing the Prefect's arms over himself in the hopes of opening up his guard. But he was too good to let something like a redirection leave him vulnerable.

Though he was stupid enough to kick out at me.

I grabbed his leg and grinned as his eyes widened a moment before I yanked him forward off balance, and ducked down, swiping his other leg out from under him and throwing my weight behind the leg I'd caught, flipping him over in midair.

He hit the ground on his stomach and I was immediately on his back, even as he tried to roll onto his hands and knees. I tried to get him in a hold but had to duck away and abort when one of those tonfa came dangerously close to giving me a concussion.

Instead, I grabbed it.

Jumping up, I wrapped my legs around the Prefect and twisted, jerking the tonfa out of his hand and throwing him across the room. I hit the ground in an ugly sprawl that I ungainly rolled out of, keeping hold of my ill-gotten gains until I hit the wall and used it to push myself forward back into the fight -

Bringing my stolen tonfa directly into the Prefect's face.

He would have a lovely black eye with a blow like that.

"REBORN! HELP AYA-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!"

I startled so bad that I almost brained Tsuna with the tonfa when he suddenly appeared at my side, Leon!Slipper in hand as he rammed his head into the Prefect's gut, throwing him further across the room.

It became a free for all after that, if I weren't so used to teaming up with Shigu against Shifu in two vs one sparring matches I was fairly sure I would have ended up hurting Tsuna in the tangled rain of mismatched limbs that flashed and flailed in my vision. That was the thing about fast-paced combat, especially when it involved more than one person, you often didn't know what was going on yourself, you just had to react and hope you didn't put yourself in a bad position.

Black gleamed out of the corner of my eye, and without conscious thought, or care, I slammed into Tsuna with my hip – bouncing him out of the way of the concussive blow.

"Aya!"

The tonfa slammed home on the side of my head and everything went dark.

_**000**_

I woke up in my own bed at home several hours later. My head felt like it was _swimming_. I immediately went back to sleep, only half aware of the hand that gently sponged my forehead with cold water.

The next time I woke up, the light _hurt_, and even the sound of the birds outside was like icepicks to my brain.

Someone helped me take a drink of water and swallow some pills that dulled the discomfort, but I found myself being tucked back into the bed and told to sleep – once the sharp edge of the pain in my skull dulled, I was only too happy to do as I was told.

_**000**_

All in all, I was out of it for over twenty-four hours, sleeping off the concussion I got protecting Tsuna from that homicidal maniac that Reborn wanted to join the Family. It was pretty much only my understanding that we _needed_ Hibari for the ensuing fights with Mukurou, VARIA, Byakuran, Shimon, and the Vindice that prevented me from... dealing with him.

But never the less.

I was furious.

Less so at him, and most definitely, whole heartedly, at myself.

What the hell kind of kiddy shit was I trying to pull here? I _knew_ Tsuna would soon be facing great danger, and yet I still rested on my laurels and played fucking house, worried over video games and homework, school clubs and how to cook goddamn rice-balls properly when I could have been furthering my training, getting _stronger_, doing my goddamn job as his Storm Guardian!

The day after I assessed myself well enough, I called work, I called school, I told them I was taking a month, family emergency, if they wanted proof they could call my sister. And then I packed a bag.

I booked a ticket to Tokyo where I dug up not only a martial arts gym, but one that had connections to the underworld – where Cage Fights and underground Fight Clubs took place. Often times, when I needed to make some quick money and didn't care how I looked afterwards, I would sometimes take my hand to these kinds of things. I'd broken more bones in these kinds of rings than I'd actually had kisses, as both Aggie AND Aya.

I busted my _ass_.

By day, I worked myself to the bone in the gym. I meditated, practised katas, I used training machines, I did three times the regular amount of roadworking that the other students did – enough so that the Gym owners pulled me aside and suggested as gently as they could to tone it down before I did myself permanent harm. I doubled the amount of work I did after that. I couldn't _afford_ to be anything less than the best.

Because what if that had been Xanxus? Hm?

What if I'd been knocked unconscious defending Tsuna against Xanxus? Or Mukurou? Or Byakuran? The Six Funeral Wreaths? Enma at his most unstable? Daemon Spade? Jaeger and the Vindice? Bermuda? Kawahira?

I couldn't afford to be human. I needed to be a monster.

And by night, that's what I was.

I stepped into the rings at the underground fight clubs and I left nothing but blood and broken bodies in my wake.

At first they thought to pit me against the bikini-barbrawlers and the gladiator-gals, when they didn't even last five minutes, they started pitting me against the professional female fighters. And again, they didn't last long. What fighters I didn't put down immediately with the first blow, just weren't vicious enough to fight me. I went in there like I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Australia and something to prove.

Both of which were annoyingly true.

They started rolling me out against contenders soon enough.

Then Reborn rocked up towards the end of the month.

I'd just finished my third fight in the Ring. My hair was braided and piled on the back of my head in a cloth covered bun to discourage grabbing, I wore a pair of baggy grey sweat-pants and a baggy white vest, the black straps of my bra visible along with the small bulges that the fillet inserts naturally gave me (all my bras had them – just to give me some kind of breast outline, however subtle). My arms were wrapped, my feet were bare, my eye was bruised, my lip split and swollen, bruises patterned my arms, and I had visibly gained muscle since the last time Reborn saw me. I was sat cross-legged to one side, a bottle of water by my knee, my hands resting loosely on my knees as I mediated. Blocking out the sounds around me, the heckling, the trash-talk, the betting, the jeering. No one got close. I'd already demonstrated that anyone who laid a hand on me, inside or outside the ring, was going to get wrecked. They didn't dare anymore.

Reborn sighed heavily as he shifted his hat down, shadowing his expression.

"I never took you for such a sore loser. Really, running away because you lost a fight and throwing yourself into cess-pools like this? What are you trying to prove?" he asked in disappointed scorn.

I arched an eyebrow at him, "You think this is my trying to _prove_ something, Reborn?" I asked idly as I stretched my arms up above my head, grunting a little as my bruised rib shifted uncomfortably.

"Tsuna's been tearing his hair out with worry over you. Yamamoto-kun's been talking about contacting the police." I arched an eyebrow at him wondering where he was going with this. Tsuna was always nearly tearing his hair out over something or other, typically directly related to something that Reborn was cooking up. Yamamoto wouldn't get halfway to the police station before Reborn directed him elsewhere. So what exactly was he trying to gain from telling me these obvious, foregone, facts?

"Bianchi cried."

My expression pinched.

"And what, exactly, are you trying to get at, Reborn?" I asked shortly as I took up my water-bottle and took a hit.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, sounding tired.

"Training," I replied as honestly as I could. Reborn paused, and lifted his hat, looking as surprised as I'd ever seen him.

"Training?" he echoed, "for _what_?"

I cracked my neck and looked down at him, "Back there, in the Reception Room... what if that had been someone else, hm?" I asked slowly, my gaze canting upwards over the crowds of milling people, the dull lights and dust in the air, the smell of alcohol, sweat, expensive perfumes, cologne, all mixing with the reek of blood and bile and dirt. "What if it had been Xanxus, or someone else from the VARIA?" I prompted further, my voice soft. "You're forbidden to interfere. Takeshi was down. Tsuna's Dying Will only lasts for five minutes. And I went down. I left him on his own. If it had been _anyone_ else that we were fighting..." I trailed off, letting my meaning become absolutely clear.

Tsuna would have died.

"I've not been taking this seriously enough," I stated coldly as I got to my feet. "But now I am."

I already hacked my way into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, as well as the Traffic Management Offices. Every CCTV camera, traffic camera, speed camera, in the city and connected to it via security networks (in other words, regardless of whether or not it was a Private Security company handling the CCTV, if they had a Police Response connection, I had access to their cameras), was under my control, linked to both my laptop and my phone with Facial Recognition Software running at all hours.

If someone with connections to the Underworld entered Japan, I was definitely going to know about it.

Tsuna's father, any member of the VARIA, Fuuta, Mukurou, the Geigues, the Shimon Famiglia, the Tomaso, the Todds, even Dino's Famiglia were on the lists. _Anyone_.

No more fucking around, no more playing. People's lives were on the line, and I was not superwoman, I wasn't Shounen Protagonist of Awesome. I didn't get to pull that Naruto/Luffy/Natsu-styled Nakama Mind over Matter second wind bullshit. If I went down, I was down. And that left Tsuna open.

Reborn sighed heavily, "When are you coming back?" he asked.

"Day after tomorrow," I answered promptly.

The tiny hitman huffed and melted back into the crowd.

And if I saw him at the bookies as I stepped into the ring, I didn't call him on it when I returned to Namimori and spotted the wide smug grin on his face.

I was a bit busy being buried under Tsuna, my sister, and Lambo.

_**000**_

**Chapter DONE! OMG. Next chapter... heeeheee Namimori Sports Festival 8DDD you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this particular chapter.**


	10. C10- Sports Festival

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER TEN  
Sports Festival**

Tsuna watched unhappily as she stepped into the classroom and immediately caused his classmates to exclaim in horror, she looked surprised as they all rushed over, asking if she was alright. She seemed to have forgotten that she was currently sporting a pair of black eyes and a nasty split lip, though _how_ someone could forget about it, Tsuna didn't know. He scowled and turned back to his comic, gripping it with uncommon ferocity. Maybe she _did_ know about it, and just wanted the attention?

"Oh my god! Aya-chan, what _happened_?!" Kyoko-chan's voice.

"Who hit you?"

"Are you alright?"

"Are you okay?"

"I can't believe someone would hit a girl! That's the worst!"

"Who the hell did this to you? Are you okay?" Yamamoto-san.

"Ah, did I forget to wash off my Special Effects make up off?" he heard the girl in question lie, a quick peek up confirmed that she was gently touching her face in 'surprise'. Concern immediately turned to awe over how realistic her injuries looked while Kurokawa-san scoffed and rolled her eyes, loudly declaring that anyone with eyes could tell it was fake, she wasn't _that_ good! Tsuna rolled his eyes, he could see Aya trying not to do the same as she quickly excused herself to the girls' bathroom to 'clean up'.

He stubbornly didn't meet her eyes when she glanced back at him as she left. He was still angry. Still hurt.

Reborn tried to explain, but he didn't want to listen. Not to him.

She just _left_. As soon as she woke up, she hadn't even properly healed from her concussion and she was leaving for a month, just _vanishing_. He had been completely beside himself with worry, with hurt, and confusion, and fear. Had he frightened her off? He knew it was his fault that she got hurt but, he wanted to help, he didn't mean to get in the way, and, she didn't _have_ to shove him out of the way and get hit! He didn't – she didn't – why did she just _leave_?

She didn't even say anything to them. No letters, phonecalls, nothing. And that hurt. That hurt a lot because for a long time... he thought she didn't want to be his friend anymore.

Then Reborn came back saying that he'd found her in Tokyo, barely spitting distance away, earning money in illegal underground fight clubs. His heart had jumped into his throat, and then he felt _angry_. She left in order to get into _more_ fights?! And then she came back with even _more_ injuries! He was so happy to see her that he forgot his anger for a moment and rushed over to hug her with everyone else but then it all came rushing back and he couldn't even _look_ at her anymore. Did their friendship really mean so little to her? That she wouldn't even think about how her disappearance would feel to them? He was so angry!

So he didn't talk to her, or look at her when she got back from the bathroom, her injuries somehow miraculously gone, smoothed away as if they had never been there. She quickly moved to her seat, casting him a glance as she did so, but he hunched his shoulders and glared at his comic, not looking up.

Until she apologised and explained herself, Tsuna wanted nothing to do with her.

_**000**_

Tsuna's anger was unexpectedly cold, Aya decided miserably as she ate alone in the classroom, male classmates swarming around her, trying to chat her up again now that she was on her own. She hadn't realised how much being Tsuna and Takeshi's friend had shielded her from the more forward of her classmates. Takeshi's look of confusion when Tsuna marched out of the classroom without a backwards glance was also uncomfortably painful even as she waved him off to go and join their Sky, he had, but she knew she would be facing questions from him in future.

"You've really managed to upset him," Reborn observed, dressed in a cosplay version of the Namimori uniform, complete with a chain around his beltloops like she used to have back when she was a teenager in the nineties as Aggie.

She huffed a tiny smile as she stared down at her white rice, "Yeah. I suppose I should have said something at least," she muttered as she set her chopsticks down.

"It isn't that you didn't say anything," Reborn corrected her, peering up thoughtfully into her face, "It's that you left in the first place." Her green eyes blinked wide in confusion and the tiny hitman twitched a smirk, "That Cloud Flame of yours is particularly well developed, isn't it?" he observed with humour. Only a Cloud would think it fine and dandy to walk away from their Sky without a backwards word or glance, secure in their own knowledge that they would always return when they were needed.

She promptly went pink and looked to one side, "Second highest affinity along with Lightning," she muttered making him huff a laugh. A powerful Polarized alignment Storm, a strong secondary Polarized Lightning, and an equally strong secondary Middling Cloud flame – the tranquil calm of a Polarized Storm, the simple direct sharpness of a Polarized Lightning, and sitting in the middle of being aggressively antisocial and disgustingly needy as a Middling Cloud. On top of that she possessed a Classical Rain alignment, and a Polarized Sun alignment. If her Storm flame were Classic, he would be calling her a Hot Mess at this particular moment, as it was, she was just too direct and oblivious for her own good. He reached out and caught a strand of her hair, giving it a tug.

"You should talk to him, seriously, later on. Let him cool down a bit first," he advised her, smirking a little as she nodded, the faint weight of depression lifting from her posture. Tsuna's cold shoulder treatment affected her probably more than either of them thought it did – as was normal between a Sky and his Guardian, especially for one as forth-coming and earnest as Gokudera Aya.

"Oh, and before I forget," he shoved something under her nose, "Happy Birthday. Tsuna forgot to give it to you when you got back," the hitman informed her before he jumped off her desk and removed the thin veneer of Mist Flame that deflected her classmate's attention from their conversation.

She stared down at the small wrapped package, it was black, and had little Roswell alien heads printed on the paper. Her eyes began to sting as something twisted in her stomach.

September 9th. The day before she got back from Tokyo. She had completely forgotten that it was her birthday that day. She had been so absorbed in finding a Gym that had seedier connections that she could use, so obsessed in getting back into shape, so determined to be strong enough to protect Tsuna that... she forgot that Tsuna didn't _want_ a protector. He wanted a friend. But... Friends protect one another. As best they can. And she _wanted_ to protect him, because she _knew_ what was coming, and how bad it would get, and she didn't want them to end up being just another one of the broken realities that Yuni saw, that Byakuran managed to destroy.

With trembling fingers, she peeled the sellotape from the end and carefully, probably with more care than it warranted, and slid the contents out onto her desk without damaging the wrapping paper. A slim black cardboard box stared up at her from her desk. Ignoring her classmates who were still being decidedly noisy, and _nosy_, around her, she opened it up and carefully pulled the slim black object out.

It was a notebook, beautiful black soft cover, with silver and pink sakura-blossoms embossed on the cover. On the first page were several notes from Tsuna, Takeshi, Ryohei, Lambo, Reborn, Bianchi, Nana, Kyoko, and even Hana, all wishing her a Happy Birthday.

He was angry that she left in the first place. How did she apologise for that when she wasn't even sorry that she did, just that she hurt him in doing so?

She spent the rest of the day chewing over that question, barely paying any attention in Nezu's maths class, and again later in Japanese Literature. How _could_ she apologise when she wasn't sorry? _Should_ she apologise? Part of her bridled at the thought. A small, decidedly feminist part of her. Why should _she_ be the one to apologise when she wasn't sorry, be expected to make the peace, to swallow her pride, just to make _him_ happy? She knew Reborn was old fashioned, and it was probably that talking. But at the same time, another small part of her, the one that felt older than her fourteen years, whispered that it wasn't that. She may not be sorry, but she was still in the wrong for leaving without a word, and she _should_ apologise for making them worry – not for leaving, as she wasn't, but for worrying them. That it wasn't a sign of being a submissive woman. It was a sign of being a grown up. Because that's what you have to do when you're an adult. You have to apologise for things you didn't do, don't care about, aren't sorry for. You have to swallow your pride, put on your nice face, and smile at the person you hate most.

She sat on the toilet, slowly braiding her hair ready for Archery Club. Aggie had a part-time job before she went to University. She worked in a café doing teas and coffees, selling cakes, and sandwiches. There was this one woman, she complained constantly. Official complaints as well. Everyone hated her. But she, specifically, hated Aggie. Yet the stupid woman seemed to be under the impression that Aggie was 'being too friendly to her', 'liked her too much', 'inappropriately', and 'she refused to be eyed up like a scrap of meat'. Aggie put on her best customer service face whenever that bitch walked in through the door, and mentally imagined throwing scalding hot tea in her face, picking her short ugly-ass self up, and physically throwing her out of the shop. The woman never realised that the only reason Aggie smiled so much at her was because she was just baring her teeth, and the reason why her order was always made so quickly was that she could _leave_ just as quickly. Her colleagues when they heard this reasoning found it _hilarious_. The next time that woman complained, Aggie's manager sat her down and explained quite flatly that everyone in the shop universally hated her, she got good customer service because they were damn good at their jobs, and that she was no longer welcome in the café. She tried to come back once or twice, but no one would serve her. Just politely remind her that she wasn't welcome and serve the next customer.

Aya sighed as she lowered her bow, reaching up to rub her shoulder. She guessed that decided it. She would have to apologise to Tsuna. She was the adult here. And she had been the one to fuck up.

"Kya! Yamamoto-san!" several voices squealed, making the silver haired girl look over. Takeshi waved at her from the doorway as several girls quickly rushed over to see what he needed. She quirked a wry smile at him and lifted a hand in return. A quick glance at the clock showed that Baseball had ended, so Archery would be too in a few minutes.

"Yo, Aya-chan, got a sec?" he called as she unstrung her bow and began to pack it away.

"Sure. Give me a second," she returned as she packed up her target as well. Mamori-chan didn't let her do anything else, hastily ushering off towards Takeshi with a giggle and a quiet 'Good Luck'. Aya frowned a little in confusion as the other girls all started to whisper and giggle, a few scowled unhappily, one was even crying and being comforted by her friends. But Mamori wouldn't let her go and see what was wrong, just shoved her into Takeshi and slid the doors shut with a bright grin.

"What was that about?" Takeshi asked, pushing her back onto her feet.

"I have no idea," Aya admitted as she took a step away from the taller boy. "So, what's up?" she asked, looking up as she stripped her wrist guard off.

Takeshi looked down at her with an uncommonly serious expression, "Tsuna. What happened?"

Aya stared up at him, she had resolved to apologise to Tsuna, but there was also Takeshi's feelings to take into account as well. And then there was his... misunderstanding regarding what we were all caught up in as well.

"Come on. Let's talk somewhere else," she said instead, leading him away from the Archery Hall where no doubt everyone was pressed against the doors to try and hear what was going on. What did they think this was? Some kind of love confession? Hm, probably, they were Japanese Schoolgirls. They didn't seem to have cottoned on to the idea that males and females could be friends without anything brewing under the surface yet.

"Just how seriously are you taking this Mafia 'game'?" she asked as they reached the baseball field. It was completely deserted and the two found places to sit on the bench in the dug-out.

"Ahaha, pretty seriously," he admitted with a grin. A grin that faded when she spoke next.

"That's good. Because it isn't a game."

"Eh?"

"Tsuna didn't want to involve you. Hell, he himself doesn't want to be involved. Takeshi, it isn't a game. We aren't playing," she explained seriously as she stared up at the sky. It was still bright out, being that it was summer still. But the sun was starting to sink. An hour or more it would be dusk. "About four hundred years ago, Tsuna's ancestor started a vigilante group in Italy, to protect their town from corrupt government officials, crooked cops, to help people stricken with poverty, who needed protection. But the stronger his group became, the more they had to fight, the more people died as the Higher Ups didn't want to lose their power, didn't want to change their behaviour. Finally, someone important died, and then Tsuna's ancestor was betrayed. No one knows truly what happened, no one alive anyway, and all records were struck off. But Tsuna's ancestor soon came to Japan, and started a family here. But he left his Vigilante group in the hands of his cousin. That cousin... did not love peace, nor the ideals of his relative. He took the group in a new direction, a bloodier, violent one. A vigilante family turned Mafia Famiglia. The Vongola.

"Four hundred years later, the Vongola are the largest, most powerful of the Famiglias in the world. Their leader, Nono, has three children. All of them dead, murdered within the last five years. He has no other blood family. All that remains is the Founder's line that went to Japan. That line... culminating in Tsuna. He is the next in line for the Vongola. His father is currently head of the Outside Advisors, but he only rarely gets involved with the main family that Tsuna will eventually become the head of. Reborn was sent to teach him. I was sent to test him, but Tsuna reached for me. Wanted me to stay. So I did. Reborn saw talent and potential in you, and wanted you to join. So he told you it was a game, Tsuna just wanted a friend, he'd been trying to push you out of this the whole time so you wouldn't be placed into danger, so that you could focus on baseball."

"But... what does this have to do with why Tsuna's upset at you?" Takeshi interrupted, looking perturbed but unsurprised. Aya did sometimes wonder just how intelligent this boy was, or rather, just how _perceptive_ he was. There were moments when he seemed to have Hyper Intuition on par with Tsuna's, and others when he was about as observant as a wall.

"I was born into the Mafia. I wasn't supposed to be connected to it at all, in the beginning. But my father had a change of heart after _Shamal_ revealed some private things I told him," she hissed darkly. Clean slate or not, she still _HATED_ him. "I was thrown out and bounced from Famiglia to Famiglia. Tsuna was the first person to accept me wholesale without pity. Shifu, my Master, he accepted me but the pity... polite that man may be, tactful he is not. I swore I would protect Tsuna because right now, he _can't_ protect himself. When we got into that fight with Hibari... afterwards I realised that I hadn't been taking that seriously enough. What if that had been someone else? What if it had been the person that murdered Nono's sons, trying to make sure the Vongola don't get an heir? What if it was someone from a rival Famiglia? An assassin? I'd been so busy treating this like a game, worrying about how riceballs tasted, when I should have been training. So I left. I needed to get my edge back. Tsuna's upset because I left. And, I _am_ sorry that I hurt him, but I'm not sorry that I left. I'm stronger now. Not strong enough for what's coming, but, at least there's a fighting chance now."

A large tan hand reached over and covered her pale one.

"You don't have to do this alone, y'know," he pointed out, giving her hand a squeeze, "We can protect Tsuna together."

She patted his hand and pushed it back, "Right now, Takeshi, no, we can't. You don't know how to fight, and Tsuna doesn't want you to. He wants you to stay innocent, happy. To be the friend he can go to when he wants to _forget_ this exists. And he needs that."

Takeshi shook his head and jumped to his feet, "I'll learn how to fight then!" he exclaimed, "How can I be happy when I know that you're hurting so much, when Tsuna's in so much danger? What kind of friend would that make me? Baseball isn't as important as my friends!" he snapped, glaring at her.

"And your life?" she asked coolly, taking the wind out of his sails. "What then?" she asked as she got to her feet.

"What – do you – mean?" he asked hesitantly.

She closed her eyes and turned away from him, there was a rustle of fabric and Takeshi's eyes practically bugged out as she _lifted her __shirt_ – revealing a long jagged scar below and between her shoulderblades on the right side, it dragged through her flesh to the small of her back in a sunken in line with two neat rows of little scarred dots where there had once been stitches to hold it shut.

"This kind of life can get you stabbed in the back, Takeshi. Often times literally," she warned him darkly as her shirt dropped once again, hiding the horrific evidence of her violent past. "Are you ready for that? Are you ready to look over your shoulder every minute, every day, for the rest of your life, to trust in people you probably shouldn't, but have to because there's no other choice? To hide your name, your past, everything, in order to protect your father, to never see him again because anyone who sees you in there may put two and two together?"

A hand landed on her shoulder, she started a little and looked back, Takeshi flashed her a thumbs up, grinning wholeheartedly.

"Yup."

_**000**_

Tsuna was even more furious when he found out that she told Takeshi the truth about the Mafia, but that... was something she wasn't willing to accept his anger on. She wasn't sure who was more shocked when she turned right around and gave _Tsuna_ a telling off about keeping it secret, Reborn, herself, Tsuna, or Takeshi. Even Bianchi was shocked, though she looked approving.

"Just _being_ our friend puts him in danger!" she flared, "he deserved to know why! What Reborn was dragging him into, he deserved to know and make the choice about _his_ life himself!"

Tsuna, shamefaced, apologised to Takeshi, and then to Aya. In turn, Aya apologised to him as well. The three sitting down and having a long talk about what went down, laying it all out on the table, and talking it over. Apologies were made, understandings reached, and everything went back to normal.

Just in time for the Athletics Festival.

"What _is_ the Athletics Festival?" Aya asked quietly as they sat in Team A's meeting room.

Tsuna hummed, "In Namimori, it's a pretty big event. The whole school's mood changes," he grinned a little, "Even I can get excited a bit. The school gets divided into A, B, and C Teams over all the year groups and classes. Hiee, it can get really heated!" he fluttered, waving his arms a bit as emphasis as he recalled competitions in previous years with a little distress, "Especially at the climax, the boy's compete in something called 'Pole Knocking'. The Team Leaders climb to the top of this pole, and have to hold on tightly while their team carries them to the other team and tries to protect them. The only rule is that the winner is decided when the leader of the opposite team is knocked down. It's the main event, Onii-san says that's the place for guys to show their best in the year," he explained, grimacing and flinching when Ryohei's voice roared out over the classroom.

"**ULTIMATE WILL TO WIN!**" the future Sun Guardian bellowed, "THIS WILL BE THE SLOGAN OF TEAM A FOR THE ATHLETIC FEST TOMORROW! UNLESS WE WIN, EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS!"

Aya grimaced as the boys roared back with enthusiasm. She couldn't really get along with Team-Spirit events like this. People pissed her off too much at the best of times. Individuals were okay, but groups? Anything more than a handful was a mob, and mobs were only as smart as their dumbest member.

"The Poke Knocking competition is the key to win this year, once again. It's been a tradition that the Team's Representative is the leader of the Pole Knocking, which means I should be doing it. BUT I WILL RESIGN!" Ryohei roared, "RATHER THAN BEING THE LEADER, I WANT TO BATTLE AS A SOLDIER!"

"Boxing freak," Aya muttered under her breath. Why did boys have to go _looking_ for fights so much?

"But there is nothing to worry about, I've prepared someone else who is better than me to be the leader!" She had a bad feeling about this, he wasn't talking about Tsuna was he?

"SAWADA TSUNA FROM CLASS 1-A!"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Aya deadpanned, "No offence Tsuna, you just don't have the training yet," she explained to him, despite knowing that he didn't want to be in the tournament anyway.

"THOSE WHO AGREE, RAISE YOUR HAND! WE WILL DECIDE BY THE MAJORITY OF THE HANDS RAISED!"

A few mutters when up about how people didn't want to lose, Tsuna was just a first grader so they didn't think it would be possible, not to mention he wasn't part of any clubs, while the other leaders had the likes of the Sumo club, and the Karate club, as their Pole Knocking Representatives.

"RAISE YOU HANDS!" the Third Year ordered.

Takeshi grabbed her hand and hoisted it into the air with a laugh, "We'll support you Tsuna!" he exclaimed loudly, immediately getting all the girls to agree.

"Ha-wha – wait – Takeshi – " Aya spluttered as she ended up getting the majority of the guys to agree just with her raised arm alone. Really? They were – really? Someone kill her, this was embarrassing.

"IT'S DECIDED THEN! THE LEADER OF THE POLE KNOCKING IS SAWADA TSUNA!"

_**000**_

"Training? Sure, I'll help!" Takeshi grinned brightly as Ryohei roared in agreement.

"Paooon!" Reborn cooed from his perch, wrapped around a post wearing that ridiculous elephant hat and Thai Boxing shorts. HOW none of them realised who it was, she hadn't the faintest idea. Thus far, only she and Tsuna seemed to have realised that the '_Muay Thai Elder, Master Paopao_' was in fact Reborn. Not even her sister could tell the difference between Reborn's costumes and the real deal. Mist Flame maybe?

"Why not," she muttered as she trailed after the boys, Ryohei gesturing enthusiastically, well, as much as he could as he carried the long pole-platform.

Eventually they met up with Tsuna who was receiving encouragement from Kyoko-chan. Though it looked like her words were anything but encouraging, she fancied she could see his soul escaping along with his will to fight the inevitable. He was going to be the Leader of the Pole Knocking – Reborn would make sure of it.

The group moved to the river so that if there were any accidents, they could swing Tsuna into the river where he wouldn't get hurt (the clothes didn't matter so much since Aya had taken to reminding Tsuna to pack an extra uniform in case of Reborn-prompted hijinx). They left their things to one side and Reborn hopped off to one side while Ryohei slammed the pole onto the ground, twisting it into the dirt a bit to make a supporting divet. He then turned and grinned at them.

"Okay, climb, Sawada!" he commanded, making the smaller boy yelp.

"U-um, I... can't even climb a tree..." he informed the Third Year self-depreciatingly.

"Well, let's start from there," Takeshi suggested with a grin. Everyone had to start somewhere, learning to climb the pole and then staying on it would have to be their training for the day – they were going to have to make sure the other members of Team A were aware that if a confrontation kicked off on the pole, they were likely to lose.

"DON'T BE SO EASY ON YOURSELF!" the white haired boy shouted, "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SPIRIT! CLIMB UP WITH YOUR SPIRIT, SAWADA!" he roared.

Aya felt her upper-lip curl, "Spirit won't mean much when he doesn't even know how best to keep his grip on the damn thing," she pointed out.

The white haired boy blinked at her, as if only just realising she was there, "This is Mens' Training, you should stand back so you don't get hurt," he told her dismissively before immediately turning back to Tsuna.

She felt like she had just been slapped.

Not even as Aggie had anyone just dismissed her like that.

She took a deep breath, and slowly let it out again, "Never. The. Less. Tsuna doesn't _know_ how to climb, perhaps you should focus on that _first_," she reiterated shortly, reigning in her temper with some difficulty. She just had to keep reminding herself that the Japanese had some very strict views on gender roles and that Ryohei was as much a product of his upbringing as he was of his culture. Manly Men Doing Manly Things. No girls allowed. Girls were soft and sweet and to be protected. They couldn't carry heavy objects, they 'kyaa'd when they fell over, and they took care of house and home, cooking delicious meals, and doing all the cleaning. Typical Japanese household represented in popular manga and TV dramas. And with a younger sister like Kyoko, who while a little quirky was almost as picture perfect a Yamato Nadeshiko as Sawada Nana... those beliefs were probably even more ingrained.

Or so she told herself as Ryohei waved her off again, this time without even looking, "Sawada is a Man! You wouldn't get it! NOW CLIMB SAWADA! WITH YOUR SPIRIT!"

She was going to kill him. With a rock or something. Or her bare hands. Hands were good. She could do more _damage_ with them.

"I agree with Sasagawa. Climb, Tsuna," the hitman ordered, gun glinting in the afternoon light.

One bang, a bullet, and Tsuna had hopped his way to the top of the pole.

"Oah! I knew he had talent!" Ryohei declared.

"Good job, Tsuna!" Takeshi called up happily as the two of them braced the pole.

"Eek! I can't – I can't get down!" Tsuna squealed.

Aya chuckled, "The point is to stay _up_ there!" she called.

"Agreed. Now for part two," Reborn declared, causing the three teenagers to blink down at him, he smiled, "It really is convenient that you left the strongest of your number on the sidelines. Aya-chan, attack them, it's your job to try and drag Tsuna down from the top of that pole. And their job to stop you," the hitman announced.

Ryohei spluttered and Takeshi's eyes went wide with more than a little trepidation.

"MASTER PAOPAO, A TRUE MAN WOULD NEVER RAISE HIS FIST TO A GIRL!" Ryohei bellowed furiously, disappointment in his tone.

"A true man would respect the resolve and strength of his opponent regardless of their gender," Reborn retorted as he nodded towards the only girl present, and the fact that she had shed her white school-shirt, reveal the black tank-top she wore under it – and the biceps that were significantly more muscular than either boy had been expecting. Ryohei spluttered in shock, eyes popping out of his skull as the silver haired girl tugged a band off of her wrist and drew her long hair back into a ponytail. "Aya-chan is trained extensively in Chinese Martial Arts by one of the world's last true Masters, she is the physically strongest member of the Archery Club, and she's been undergoing extensive hellish training in Tokyo's underground Fight Clubs for the past month, you shouldn't underestimate her, Sasagawa-san. Or she'll eat you alive," the hitman warned, humour colouring his tone as she settled into a familiar stance. He liked strong men and women, if he hadn't been trapped in this form, he could quite easily see himself attempting to seduce the young woman – getting a Polarized Storm all hot and bothered, breaking that precious calm, was always amusing. Almost as fun as ruffling the feathers of Classic Clouds – Hibari Kyouya would have been a fun one to fluster as well.

"Prepare yourselves," she stated.

"TRUE MEN NEVER RAISE THEIR FISTS TO WOMEN!" Ryohei bellowed and resolutely turned away from her.

The punch she slammed into the side of his head mowed him to the side, throwing him down to the ground several paces away, and crossed his eyes. His ear rang with the force of it and the world went swimming as light flashed and dimmed as he struggled to sit up. Her foot lodged into his side and punted him even further away.

The sound of Tsuna hitting the water was the only thing that stopped her single-minded dismantling of Sasagawa Ryohei's ignorance.

Tsuna sniffled later as she walked him home, the girl complaining bitterly about the other boy's sexism and how it would cause difficulties at the Athletics meet. "Oniisan shouldn't have a problem with that," Tsuna admitted damply.

"Really? It's supposed to be a free for all, what happens when he comes face to face with a girl in there? He just going to let her get past him?" Aya demanded, disgusted with his behaviour.

"Eh? Did no one tell you?" Tsuna blurted, surprised.

"Pole Knocking is Boys Only."

_**000**_

**Goddamnit, I wanted to get Hibari into this chapter, but it just didn't happen. I also kind of wanted to throw some Ryohei subplot in there, but bunnies and characters refused. XP oh well. I got ****something**** down in there.**


	11. C11- Pole Knocking

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER ELEVEN  
Pole Knocking**

I stared at my reflection in the mirror when I got home.

My feelings were hard to describe as I traced the curve of my cheek in the mirror. With my mixed heritage, I had a surprisingly androgynous face, delicate, and combined with my long hair, it was easy to think of me as female at first, second, even third glance. I was lucky in that respect that even without surgery or hormone treatments I could be the person I really was. I slowly stripped off my shirt and vest, staring at my body's reflection. My shoulders were... not narrow, but I hesitated to call them broad for all that they didn't have a very feminine slope to them. My biceps... well, they were definitely thicker and much more defined than Ryohei's. The training, the fighting, and the Archery had beefed them up significantly. I actually kind of liked them. I was strong. It showed.

I turned to the side and gently smoothed my hands down the cups of my bra, and the fillets that gave me _some_ definition.

My stomach was flat, tucked in, and when I tensed, clearly defined.

But when I unhooked it, my bra, and allowed it to drop to the floor along with my shirt... suddenly, a young woman wasn't what I saw in the mirror.

An attractive, no, a _beautiful_ young man with long silver hair, and sad eyes stared back at me from the glass. A person so different that even though he was wearing my face, he wasn't me, couldn't be me even though when I reached out to touch the mirror, so did he in turn. Intellectually I knew this was me, logic dictated that this was me. _Reason_ dictated that this was me. My mind told me this was me.

My heart refused.

It screamed and thrashed in my chest, making me wince and cringe in discomfort. This was not me, it could not be me. The reflection was _wrong_. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I hadn't worn boys' clothing since I was eleven.

Since Shifu found me in such a pitiful state and took me in. Since he accepted me and showed me how to protect myself. That my life had meaning. When I was younger, it wasn't a problem. I hadn't developed as a girl should have. I could... ignore the lack of curves, the missing breasts. It was easy to rationalise it as just 'I haven't reached puberty yet', and wear what I wanted, that sometimes I needed to wear the boys' clothes because no one would be looking for a boy if they were hunting for a girl.

The thought of doing it now made my mouth taste sour, and my stomach clench.

But even as I stared at my reflection, I knew I would do it anyway.

It was such a silly thing. They were just clothes. It was just a disguise. It wasn't permanent. It... It was just pretend, for a bit, just to test myself, just to...

I didn't want to be relegated to the sidelines, forgotten, pushed aside. I didn't want to be alone.

And the Pole Knocking... boys' only they said.

Well... under the clothes, in the reflection of my mirror...

I wasn't looking at a girl. And I _hated_ that, as much as I knew I was going to use it to my advantage.

I slid the mirror aside and took out the scissors, sliding the glass back into place.

If I was going to join the Pole Knocking tomorrow, test myself against the rest of Namimori in order to see if I was really in a good state to protect Tsuna (if I recalled, Hibari would be present at this event, the chance to fight him again was a test I wasn't willing to pass up), I needed a disguise that would get me into the event. And being Gokudera Aya was not going to get me within fifty feet of the fight.

I took a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut as I gripped a chunk of my hair.

The sound of the scissors sheering through the silver strands made me cold and shivery all over.

My eyes began to sting and I had to take a deep breath and remind myself... I had a Sun Flame.

I can grow it back. It can be grown back. It _isn't_ gone forever. This is just temporary. It's just a disguise. A trick. A prank. It's just for fun, just so you can play with the others. Let's see how long you can pretend, you can hide, and be someone else. See how long it'll take before they know it's you.

I kept cutting.

And I kept crying.

_**000**_

Nothing can really prepare you for emotional detachment. Or whatever it was I was feeling. It's... a little like floating in your own head. Being disconnected from everything. You feel... taller, and kind of light. Things look brighter, painfully so. I felt... well, as good as I could in this situation.

My head felt too light, the wind was cold on the back of my neck. And when I caught my reflection in the corner of my eye, I jumped a mile, thinking a stranger was following me.

Short cropped black hair, glasses, a scowl, the boys' P.E. Kit with an A-Team red vest. I looked no different than the rest of the sea of my schoolmates. I was invisible amidst them. I was a picture of what 'should' have been according to my father, according to society. I hated it. Just as much as I hated the fact that I couldn't _commit_ to it, to the deception. I just _couldn't_. Under my kit, I wore a binder. It was just an illusion. Just for me. Because when I looked down and saw nothing, I could tell myself, '_it's the binder_'. And the queasy feeling that rose up like a fist was easier to swallow back. Of course I'd be flatchested in a binder.

I could see Tsuna and Takeshi looking for me in between events, but I managed to avoid their eyes. I gave a fake name, Goku Hayate, and took part in a few events – shotput, javelin throwing, 100metre sprint, and the long jump. Came in first for shotput and javelin, second for long jump, and third for 100-metre sprint (I was more of a distance runner to be honest). A few of the boys from the javelin throwing contest invited me to eat lunch with them, which was nice. Though it was embarrassing when they started talking about their classmates, about how cool Yamamoto-san was, useless Sawada was, scary Hibari-senpai was, cute Sasagawa-chan was, and apparently, I was amazing, but cold, 'Gokudera-hime' one of them said – and got pelted with wasabi nuts by his friends. There were apparently mixed opinions on me, some thought I was very good looking but an ice queen, others thought I was obviously nice since I hung out with Tsuna and Takeshi, but because I was flat chested, I wasn't all that great. Huh. This was why I preferred to avoid other people, unless it's a threat to me, I don't typically care what they think about me, but that doesn't mean I don't feel uncomfortable, or hurt, when I'm made aware of their opinions either.

Pole Knocking was after lunch, I quickly excused myself in order to get into a ready position.

"**Thank you for waiting. A decision has been made in the Pole Knocking debate.**" I paused as the Headmaster's voice came over the tannoy system. Oh yeah, it was going to be the whole school against Team A, wasn't it? I'd forgotten about that. "**Upon debating with the representatives, this year's Pole Knocking will be A Team versus B and C Team Union.**" Protests immediately went up amongst Team A while both B and C roared in approval, and a little bloodthirst. I stiffened and walked faster when they started shouting about crushing Tsuna specifically. Not on my watch they wouldn't. "**All the boys, please prepare for the Pole Knocking!**"

"Sasagawa-san! Are they serious about the two against one?" someone shouted from the A Team as they saw Ryohei coming out from the teachers' area.

"What did you guys talk about?!" another voice demanded.

"I bet it was majority rules and you were forced!"

"N-no way, that's cheap..." Tsuna trailed off, his voice wobbling weakly.

"No. I SUGGESTED IT AND FORCED IT ON THEM!" Ryohei roared, much to my anger, I hadn't realised _that_.

"Cause getting rid of all your enemies at once is obviously the fastest way to deal with things," Master Paopao pointed out from his perch on the pole. I glared up at him, yes, _technically_ he wasn't wrong. However, that only works when you are in a position of power and have that capability. When you, yourself, are the underdog, have no plan, or secret weapon, it's just plain suicide.

"EXACTLY MASTER! I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU! WE WILL DEFEAT THOSE WHO COME TOWARD US!" Ryohei roared passionately, pumping his fists.

I groaned, "That kind of thinking only works when we have the advantage," I complained under my breath, pinching the bridge of my nose, I didn't notice Tsuna stiffen and whirl around to face me as I caught sight of a certain Prefect climbing the B/C Team's pole. In his uniform as well. He hadn't even stripped out of his jacket, arrogant little shit. I narrowed my eyes. Getting him off the Pole was going to be difficult... Actually _getting_ to him was going to be a task and a half. We needed to form a wedge and force our way through the B/C Team's bulk.

Everyone split into their teams and I whistled loudly in order to grab A Team's attention, "I think I have a plan," I announced, "If we're going to have even a faint chance of getting through their numbers, we need to have a strong forward," I explained as several of the Team came closer, I crouched and began to draw in the dirt. I gave us an arrow-headed formation and quickly scribbled the other combined team splitting as I moved us forward. "They'll be too afraid of knocking Hibari's pole to move it. So we're going to have to move to them. Sasagawa, Takeshi, myself, any members of the Karate club, any delinquents, Judo, Kendo, Aikido, and other athletics club members should be in the front of this arrow-head. I want the sumo-club members, and those heavier set students at our pole to shield it and move it if need be. We all know Tsuna won't stand a chance against Hibari in combat so the main group's objective should be to protect him while the forward group get through to Hibari and drag him off that pole."

"Oooh! That's a good plan!" Takeshi exclaimed, grinning down at the dirt drawings, "You're a really reliable kind of person, aren't you?" he asked, grinning down at me with bright eyes. I frowned, surely he didn't – he winked and I could only twist a wry smile. Of course he recognised me. Takeshi was the most observant of us. The fact he wasn't saying anything... I nodded as I got to my feet.

"Is everyone okay with this plan? I know it's a bit rude of me to suddenly start ordering people around, but Sasagawa-san didn't seem to have much in the way of a plan, and Tsuna's already in position, anything he had to say would have been heard by the other team."

"I have no problem with it," Takeshi declared brightly, arms behind his head as he beamed down at our Teammates, "Anyone else?"

"It's a good plan, I WILL BE AT THE HEAD OF THE FORMATION!" Ryohei roared, throwing his arms in the air.

I smirked pushing my glasses up, "I was hoping you'd say that."

Given how, err, '_passionate_' (re: spastic) about fighting, boxing, and winning Ryohei was on a normal day, I didn't much fancy the moral, or even the chances, of the B/C team combination. Especially when facing him on a match day, at the head of the pack, leading the charge. He was positively on fire as he got into position.

But the B/C combo were in an Imperial Guard position. A position, for the less Geeky, was known as a no-win.

Stood before a Khorne Berserker (Ryohei) at the head of a troupe of Cultists (Team A), and one scary ass Commissar (Hibari) behind them. It was not a pleasant situation to find one's self in, as many of them were taking notice of I concluded, watching their facial expressions as they glanced between _certain_ death (Hibari), and only _potential_ death (Ryohei).

THAT was an Imperial Guard position.

You either ran at the massive blood thirsty Chaos Marine who _might_ rip your spine out and use it to behead your fellows, who knows, you _might_ survive. Or, you turn around and try to run away only to _definitely_ get shot in the head by your Commissar for cowardly traitorous behaviour to the Empire of Mankind. And if you survived that, they would just shoot you again for having the audacity and arrogance not to die for the sin of disappointing the God Emperor like the writhing waste of oxygen you were.

I chuckled a little. They _might_ die fighting the Berserker, they _will_ die if they disobey the Commissar's orders. We were going to have quite a fight on our hands.

I was actually looking forward to it a little.

"WE SHALL NOW START THE POLE KNOCKING. PLEASE GET INTO POSITION!" one of the Faculty called through a megaphone towards the school building.

Immediately, B/C teams grouped up into an anomalous mass of students without rhyme or reason, while A-team snapped to, the athletics club members to the spear-head, the heavy set students towards the back and we pointed ourselves at the opposition, Ryohei pumping his fists and yelling with excitement, flanked by both myself and Takeshi as Tsuna squealed on top of his pole.

"There's such a difference in people!" he howled fearfully.

I grinned, flexing my arms. Yes there was.

This was going to be fun.

"**GO!**"

"A Team FORWARD!" I commanded, thrusting my arm out as Ryohei, Takeshi and myself shot forward at a sprint.

I lowered my centre of gravity and braced my arms. We three were the first wedge. It was _our_ job to get into the B/C conglomeration and _pierce_ their frontline. Get under their guard and force them to part.

None of them stood a chance.

They parted like the red sea, admittedly a lot of them turned red with blood after we barged in. Ryohei punching, Takeshi shoving, and me... open palm thrusts, throws, kicks, punches. The three of us together got through the front line and lead the rest of Team A through the crush of students straight at Hibari.

The goal was to get him off his pole.

"EEK! THEY'RE ALREADY HERE! WAH, I'M GOING TO FALL! STOP! LET GO!"

I whirled around the second I heard Tsuna's shriek.

Some of the B/C team had gone _around_ us and attacked from behind. The weaker students at the back had their hands full but one or two had managed to get onto the pole and were now trying to drag Tsuna down, grabbing at his ankle and lashing out at him. We weren't going to be able to reach him.

"Tsuna! Jump!" I shouted, gesturing to him. "JUMP!"

Brown eyes locked onto my own for a heartbeat, he was terrified but something firmed in them and he desperately shook off his hanger-on. He drew his legs up like a frog, squeezed his eyes shut, and jumped.

Several people yelled, but I didn't listen as I shifted into position and braced.

He landed with his knees on my shoulders, driving me down to one knee as I almost went down onto my hands and knees.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" he shrieked in my ear as I groaned and forced my aching legs to unfold.

"FINE. TAKESHI, RYOHEI!" I shouted as I gripped Tsuna's shins behind me, feeling his hands latch onto my head as I threatened to dislodge him as I ran to them. The two boys grinned when they spotted us.

"Hahaha! Awesome! So long as Tsuna doesn't touch the ground we can still win!" Takeshi exclaimed happily as he quickly joined me in supporting Tsuna's weight.

Ryohei roared excitedly, "**GO! AIM FOR THE LEADER!**" he howled as the four of them burst into the other Team's line, throwing students left and right with yells of exertion (Tsuna shrieking and clinging to the three of them as they mowed classmates to one side).

"That's like an ARMY TANK!"

"We can't stop that!"

"WAAAAH!"

"That's more like it," Hibari declared, smirking as he swung himself off his perch, and landed on several of his teammates. "We will bring the fight to them," he declared sharply.

"H-HAI, HIBARI-SENPAI!"

I grinned viciously. That's good, the arrogant shit head was coming to us, less work on our part!

I wasn't going to be able to drag him down to the ground with my arms, they were occupied and even if I went in alone, I was at a disadvantage due to the difference in height and numbers. Meaning...

The second he got close enough, I steered the boys so he was on the right side of me.

"TSUNA! COUNTER WEIGHT!" I shouted, and jumped, putting all my weight on Takeshi and Ryohei's arms as I swung my legs up.

Tsuna squealed as he slipped and leaned on their otherside, balancing my weight with his.

The two others grunted even as Hibari's eyes widened.

My legs clamped around him.

"TURN!" I roared, twisting my hips and wrenching. Him. Down.

Takeshi and Ryohei turned towards Tsuna's side and I let them go, flicking my upper body around.

Hibari met the ground with a dull thud.

And I landed on top of him with a howl of delight.

"YES! WE WON!"

The cheer that went up from Team A was deafening, even as B/C team was stunned into uncomprehending silence.

I laughed wildly – and then found myself flung off the Prefect.

"I will BITE you to death, HERBIVBORE," he hissed hatefully at me, baring his teeth as he shot to his feet, face tinged pink with embarrassment and anger.

I bared my teeth straight back at him, flexing my shoulders, "Bring it on, BITCH!" I snarled.

Without his weapons, he was laughably easy to subdue.

I caught both his arms, shoved them back, slammed a hand against his chest and kicked his feet out from under him. It was shocking really. Barely twenty seconds and I had him down on his back, straddling and pinning his arms as he snarled and squirmed under me. All he succeeded in doing was getting a fistful of my Team vest and tearing it off before I took him down.

Had I really considered him a threat barely a month ago?

Hibari let out a wordless snarl of fury as he kicked his feet out from under me and tried to slam his head into mine. Oh please, as if a Glasgow kiss was going to phase me. I had a harder head and knew how to use it better. People around us were shouting and panicking, I could hear Tsuna squealing, Ryohei roaring his approval while Takeshi spluttered. Distantly the rest of the school was going fucking _nuts_ at the fact I had taken down the Head Prefect in such a short length of time.

"You two need to cool off." Reborn's voice suddenly announced before a wall of cold water was thrown over us.

I shrieked, jerking upright, releasing Hibari's wrists as I sat up.

"REBORN! WAS THAT **REALLY** NESSECARY?!" I demanded furiously as I lifted my arms and shook them free of water, clawing my hair out of my eyes. It was just long enough to be that kind of pain in the ass. I swore under my breath as I slicked my hair back out of my eyes. Goddamnit, this dye was temporary! It came out at the first touch of water.

People had stopped shouting.

I looked around, they were all staring at us, and I grimaced. God fucking damnit.

I glared down at the Prefect, half expecting him to try and throw another punch only...

His eyes were locked on something significantly lower than my face, and practically bugging out of his skull as his face began to steadily go a darker shade of pink.

I frowned.

What on earth?

I looked down.

Oh shit. My shirt.

My _binder_!

I blanched, and then turned bright red.

My shirt was see-through. Everyone could see my binder.

I felt something uncomfortably warm prod my inner thigh.

Hibari's hands were no where near that particular area of my bod- _oh holy SHIT HE DID NOT HAVE A - _

I screamed.

My fist slammed hard enough into the teenager's face that I felt one of my own knuckles pop, even as the other flew to hide my chest from view.

I had never run from a situation so fast before in my _life_. I needed clothes, non-see through ones, and I needed them _NOW_.

_**000**_

**You have NO idea how long I have been wanting to write that scene. More fun is to come, I promise.**


	12. C12- First Time Killing

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER TWELVE  
First Time Killing**

The Namimori Athletics Festival was one of the very few school events at Nami-Middle that was open to the public, meaning that family and friends were also allowed onto school grounds in order to watch and cheer the students on at their events. As such, Sawada Nana, her house guests, Bianchi, Lambo, and Reborn, along with one of their neighbours, Miura Haru, were allowed on school grounds.

It wasn't uncommon actually, a lot of parents were attending to cheer their children on in their activities.

This time though, on a blue moon, Hibari Satoshi, Hibari Yun, and Hibari Minoru had decided to attend today as well, half hoping to see their son/nephew partake in the activities for the first time since his first year – when he promptly decided he didn't _do_ teams, made his own side, and then destroyed all the other participants in the Pole Knocking, sending the three Team Leaders into the hospital and declaring himself the winner. Admittedly, they didn't want a REPEAT of this incident, but they had hoped he would have mellowed down enough to actually partake in school activities, especially when he held the school in such high regard.

As such... they were completely stunned by what they just witnessed.

Yun's pale hands slapped over her mouth in shock, "Did Kyouya just - "

"Show interest in another human being?" Satoshi finished, eyes practically bugging out of his skull as he watched the spectacle taking place down below. Specifically on how his beloved (aggravating/cute) son went bright red (for him) and stared with unabashed interest at what was very clearly a binder hidden under a now see-through shirt.

"Been nice knowing you brother. Look me up somewhen never. I'm moving to Alaska," Minoru announced firmly.

"Bit sudden," Satoshi muttered, still not tearing his eyes away as the girl stiffened and promptly screeched, punching his son in the face.

"If Kyouya is suddenly getting interested in girls, I am GONE. Nope. Not in the job description – YOU GUYS can handle this. Uncle Minoru is Uncle M.I.A." his little brother declared, throwing his arms up, sounding torn between horrified and so done with this shit that Satoshi _almost_ tore his eyes away from the way Kyouya just stayed sprawled on the ground staring off after the girl as she sprinted off, stunned, confused, and now in possession of a bloody nose and blossoming black eyes (he wondered if she was the one responsible for his utterly foul mood and black eyes last month, he wouldn't even let Yun heal them over, snapping his teeth at her when she tried).

Minoru tried to get to his feet and make his escape then, but Satoshi was faster, and knew his little brother better than he wished he did. He grabbed the little shit by the scruff of his neck (never mind that Minoru was taller than him), and yanked him back into his seat.

"Sit down," he told his brother, amusement colouring his tone as he dug into his pocket for his phone. "Why the hell would you miss a prime opportunity for blackmail?" he asked chuckling as he swiped through to his camera and took a picture of the dazed blush on his son's face.

"Satoshi – where is Yun?"

Kyouya's father paused when he realised his beloved, psychotic, ex-hitwoman wife was no longer sat beside him.

And since she wasn't down there fussing over Kyouya – that meant she was...

Minoru dropped his face into his hands, "Oh my god, she's going to traumatise that poor girl."

_**000**_

Aya cursed, scrubbing her hands through her short hair as she stuck her head under the tap, washing out the last of the dye. Dragging her head out and shaking water everywhere as she stripped out of her shirt, throwing it across the girls' bathroom viciously before she dug into her bag for a spare shirt and bra. She ducked into one of the stalls and took her binder off, shrugging into the bra double-quick time so she wouldn't have to look down, before slipping into a black vest. With her hair wet she didn't want to pull on a school-shirt, it would only get grey staining on the collar from the temporary hair dye.

She sighed, scrubbing a hand through her wet hair again before shaking water everywhere once more.

She needed her rings, she couldn't stand having her hair short anymore!

But – _fuck__. _Everyone had seen her with the short hair. If she came back with it down to her waist, there would be questions, she _couldn't_ grow it.

She swore vilely under her breath as she unlocked the bathroom stall and stepped out – coming nose to nose with a complete stranger wearing a familiar face.

"I'm SO sorry about my son's behaviour back there!" the woman exclaimed loudly, excitedly, even as Aya jolted backwards into the stall.

She was a beautiful woman, thick raven black hair pulled into a chunky waist length braid, a thick fringe and thin eyebrows, familiar sharp blue eyes bored into her own startled green from a surprisingly young seeming face, high cheek bones and a petite mouth stretched into a wide hopeful smile. She was about the same size as Aya herself, perhaps a tad shorter, but curvier by far, dressed modestly like a typical Japanese housewife in a pair of clean blue jeans, and a thick white knitted polo-neck sweater.

"That's – alrigh- wait, your _son_?" the Storm Flame user spluttered. Was this _Hibari's_ mother?

She positively beamed, "Yes! Kyou-chan! My son! I'm so sorry about earlier! I hope you won't hold it against him! He's a good boy really!" the woman gushed, stepping forward earnestly, crowding Aya back into the toilet stall.

She laughed, perhaps a little hysterically as she tried not to fall backwards onto the toilet, "Ah-haha... ha... Uhm, yes, I'm – I'm sure he is," she spluttered nervously.

Blue eyes widened as the woman suddenly (thankfully) leaned back, clapping her hands together, "Oh my! I'm so sorry! I'm Hibari Yun, Kyouya's mother, it's nice to meet you..." she trailed off meaningfully, hopefully, smiling so earnestly at the young Storm Guardian that she felt a bead of cold sweat beginning to form on the back of her neck as she remained frozen, stomach muscles clenched and aching where she was bent backwards over the toilet barely remaining upright.

Oh god, there was no polite way to refuse giving this woman her name.

"G-Gokudera Haya- " she coughed, wheezing a little as the woman leaned forward again, "P-pleased to meet you?" she practically whimpered.

The woman squealed, bouncing in place, clapping her hands, before lunging forward and grabbing Aya's hands, the younger of the two squawking and losing her battle with gravity, landing on the toilet with a yelp as Yun gripped her hands and _beamed_.

"Pleased to meet you too, Haya-chan!" the woman chirped, squeezing Aya's hands tightly. "I'm sure we'll be the best of friends!"

Oh god, what was this woman on?

A knock at the bathroom door saved Aya from having to scramble for an answer.

"Aya-chan? Is everything okay?" Tsuna.

"I – I have to go! It- It was nice meeting you, Hibari-san," the girl rushed, quickly slipping her hands free of the older woman's grasp and practically vaulting out of the toilet stall over the top, rather than risk trying to squeeze past her. She snatched her bag out from under the divider and rushed to the door.

Yun smiled brightly, waving as the young woman raced away to her Sky, not upset in the least at the less than socially acceptable goodbye. She could never be angry at a Guardian immediately attending their Sky when called. It was admirable to be that attentive! She must have been a very good Guardian! And so nice too! Very pretty. She would look lovely in her old wedding Kimono – if she wanted a traditional wedding, if not Yun knew a lovely bridal store in Tokyo that did Western Style gowns and made to order couture dresses.

Now she just had to coach her prickly little boy in how to talk to girls!

She squealed happily. Kyouya showed an interest in girls, she was going to be a Grandmother!

The woman spun in a circle, giggling happily. They could go on shopping trips together, and eat icecream, and go to Karaoke, and – and – what was that?

Blinking, the mother paused in her gleeful fantasies of the future where she would finally have a female member of the family to have fun with when she spotted a pile of wet fabric in the corner of the room. Curious, she quickly made her way over and picked it up. When held up, she realised what she had found: Haya-chan's sports shirt, the one the Sun Arcobaleno had drenched!

"Lucky!" Yun squealed, quickly gathering the wet sports shirt up. She had an excuse to visit now!

Wait.

What did she just think? ...A... Arcobaleno? Guardian? A – _Sky_? The girl was a Guardian?! That mean there was a _SKY_ NEAR BY! ONE BEING TRAINED BY REBORN!

The Hitman turned on heel and _bolted_ out of the girls' bathroom hard enough to knock the door clean from its hinges and embed the handle into the drywall as she plastered herself to the window, blue eyes frantically raking the student population for that glimpse of shiny beautiful silver – **there!**

She was flanked by two boys, a small one with spiky brown hair, and a taller one with short black hair. She knew the taller one, it was Tsuyoshi-kun's son, Takeshi, she remembered babysitting the little Rain boy when he was younger, both he and Kyou-chan playing together as she '_kept an eye on them_', re: trained them. Which meant the little brunet was...

A Sky.

A _Sky_ in _Namimori_!

A _Sky_ the same _**age as her Kyouya!**_

She wavered where she was stood, a strangled whimper squeaking its way free of her throat as with trembling hands she drew the girl's sodden shirt against her chest, squeezing it tightly over her heart. There was a – a _Sky_ in Namimori, a _teenage_ Sky. A Sky in her baby's school, one of his classmates. Her baby had fallen for a _Guardian_, his Flame had react to her, which meant they were of a similar calibre, and if _she_ was a Guardian then that meant there was a chance, more than a small one, that he could – that he could... he could be a Guardian too.

She watched as the group left the school gates, Haya-chan pulling the small Sky between herself and Take-chan as they passed Tetsuya-kun, squaring her shoulders to him as they passed. Oh, _oh_, she wasn't the type to back down _at_ all. Good for her.

Yun giggled a little helplessly as she slid to her knees and dropped back, landing on her behind and hiccuping another giggle of delirious mirth.

There was a Sky in Namimori the same age as her son.

Her son who was interested in a girl.

The girl who was the Sky's Guardian.

And that was how her husband and her brother in law found her. Sat on the floor outside the ladies toilet, clutching a soaking wet shirt, staring sightlessly at the wall, occasionally giggling in shock, completely heedless to the way that she had now gotten herself sopping wet by clutching the shirt that tightly.

The two brothers exchanged looks.

"She's your wife," Minoru pointed out dryly before turning away and rummaging for his phone.

Satoshi scoffed in annoyance, again, his little brother was misreading him. Little shit. He immediately moved to his wife's side, as he planned to, and wrapped her up in his arms, hugging her tightly before pulling her to her feet. She went willingly, still completely blind and her eyes fixed ahead, a small spurt of giggles coming out of her every now and again. He gave the shirt a little tug, recognising who it may have belonged to, but his wife had a death grip. There would be no getting it away from her until she'd calmed down.

"Tsuyoshi-san says he'll have a Blue Menu waiting for us to pick up by the time we pass Takesushi," Minoru dutifully reported as he snapped his phone shut. He peered at his sister in law for a moment before shaking his head, "I know it's shocking that Kyouya's hormones seem to have finally punched him in the face but... isn't this a little far? What the hell kind of girl did he fall for?" the younger brother wondered in confusion. Not many things could push Yun to shut down like this – finding out she was pregnant was one of them, Satoshi asking her to marry him was another, Minoru couldn't think of any other times that she went this far gone though.

"Who knows. We'll find out when she's calmed down some," he stated as he tucked her up under his arm and began to escort her out of the school.

Minoru shrugged, casting a glance at the door embedded in the wall with mild amusement. Kyouya was going to be giving her the silent treatment for days over damaging his precious Namimori. If his brain ever elevated from his groin to notice it that is.

_**000**_

She wasn't able to hide behind Tsuna, Ryohei, and Takeshi the whole time, though she definitely gave it her best shot. However, she couldn't hide entirely. Which was why she was now stood firmly in front of the school Headmaster, eyebrow arched coldly as he gave her a dressing down more befitting a thirteen year old caught flashing her classmates, not a grown ass woman who just won a Sporting Event by pretending to be a man. Actually, thinking about it, this was entirely Historically accurate a situation. And that was even _more_ irritating given that this was 2015 for fucks' sake.

Aya imagined she would be less furious with the whole situation if she hadn't been given a detention for '_Inappropriate behaviour_'. Or in layman's terms, being unladylike. She got Detention for cutting her hair, wearing boys' clothing, and _winning_ them the grossly unmatched Pole Knocking Tournament. She was _livid_.

Silently, she took the dressing down with narrowed eyes, but when all was said and done: She had no intention of showing up to those Detentions.

"Why the hell am I still here?" she muttered darkly as she stalked out of the office, fighting hard against the urge to slam the door behind her. She could fucking sit university entrance exams and pass them with flying colours.

"How did it go, Aya-chan?" Tsuna asked anxiously as he jumped to his feet from where he, Takeshi, and the Sasagawa siblings had been waiting.

Oh. That was why. Tsuna.

She smiled, "They just read me the riot act is all," she told him lightly. Since she had no intention of attending those stupid Detentions then she saw no reason to inform the others about it, "Basically they just said it was unladylike, don't do it again. Which is a bit stupid. I won fair and square," she scoffed irritably. He was probably pissed off that she kicked his precious Head Prefect's ego down to size, thus undermined the authority of the Disciplinary Committee in front of all the students. Feh, if anyone else could fight Hibari and come out on top in _this_ school, Reborn would have already tried to recruit them.

Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad, I thought you'd have to go to detention with Hibari-senpai and the Committee," he explained, hand over his heart, genuinely looking relieved.

Okay, she was definitely not attending those Detentions now. She had no desire to clash with the Disciplinary Committee after that, plus, Hibari only got obsessive about stron- shit, she should have thought things through a bit more carefully before kicking his ass, shouldn't she? He was going to be _hounding_ her for rematches, like he did with Reborn.

She groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

"Aya-chan?" Tsuna asked, concerned.

"I just remembered," she mumbled through her fingers, "Hibari's obsessed with strong people. He's going to keep bugging me for rematches just like Reborn!"

There was a pause, and suddenly Takeshi started to laugh. Tsuna squealed fearfully at the idea of being stalked so intently by a battle-thirsty Hibari; Ryohei roared 'Extremely' about how he had to recruit them both for the Boxing Club ("I'm in the Archery Club though." – Aya, "JOIN THE BOXING CLUB ANYWAY!" – Ryohei, "Oniichan, you shouldn't shout at Aya-chan!" – Kyoko); but it was Reborn's reaction that made her uneasy above all others. He smirked, those evil beady black baby eyes crinkling with sadistic humour as he tipped his hat down to hide his expression.

He was going to be cashing in on that fight for _months_. For however long it took to either no longer be funny, or useful to him.

"Shit." Seemed to sum the situation up quite nicely.

_**000**_

"Shit," she muttered in annoyance. She was supposed to be working right now, but apparently they had changed the rota without posting the changes up in the staff-room, word had been passed along word of mouth and since she was only the part-timer... oh well, she had a weekend to herself now. And nothing to do with it either. She supposed she could go and hang out with Tsuna, but she knew how much he liked to sleep in on days when Reborn wasn't likely to harass him into waking with the dawn chorus.

"Aya-chan, what's up?" Takeshi's voice interrupted her musing as she meandered down the street.

"Morning Takeshi," she greeted with a friendly smile.

"I thought you had work today?" he asked curiously, bag slung over one shoulder. He must have been going to Tsuna's, Nami-chuu was the opposite direction and he had his baseball gear with him – either practice was moved or cancelled.

"I did. Shift change, they forgot to tell me," she admitted with a shrug and a smile.

"Ahaha, same. I don't have club activities today. You heading to Tsuna's?" he asked, falling into step beside her.

"Mmm, I was thinking about it, but I know he likes to lie in as much as he can before Reborn wakes him up."

"At this time of day?" Takeshi laughed, "Tsuna sure likes to sleep a lot!"

Aya snorted unattractively as they stepped into the Sawadas' front garden, giving Nana a wave as they passed, the house wife positively beaming at them where she was hanging laundry out to dry, "If I didn't have work I'm pretty sure I'd be sleeping too. I'm pretttty far from a morning person like you freaks of nature," she laughed, elbowing him as they made their way up the stairs, shoes abandoned in the porch behind them.

Takeshi just laughed at the teasing as we came to Tsuna's room.

"Morning Ts- what happened?" the girl stuttered to a stop, staring at the ransacked bedroom in surprise, and then the fact that Tsuna was half hidden under his coffee table and the sprawled form of a complete stranger splayed out on the floor unmovingly.

Reborn peered up at them, "Tsuna has become a man."

And didn't a statement like that leave a lot of room for interpretation.

Tears and snot streaming down his face, Tsuna surfaced from under the coffee table and explained what happened. A man had broken into his room, and he'd shot him while asleep and now there was a _dead_ guy in his room and his _**life was over!**_

Aya frowned thoughtfully and dropped down beside the so called body, pressing fingers under his jaw to the jugular vein, she couldn't feel any particular throbbing of the blood vessels. He was still warm to the touch. She peeled his eyelid and checked his pupil reactions to the light by shielding and uncovering them – nothing. Either this person was a _very_ convincing actor, or he was really dead.

She paused thoughtfully, sitting back on her heels before checking his clothing – yes, there, a tear through his thick clothing showing blood, fat, and burst muscle. She leaned down, using her fingers to open the wound further as there was only a small amount of blood, especially for a wound in such a location, and sniffed it, yes it was fresh and there was a faint whiff of cordite as used with handguns. So that ruled out pig's blood-blood bags and rigged explosives like Hollywood Special Effects. She rubbed the blood between her fingers; it was even the right consistency for it, just starting to go tacky too, which meant it was in the process of coagulation. Damn, he really was dead. All signs pointed to it.

"Ay-ai-aya-chan?" Tsuna blubbered snottily, looking so young and scared in his nightclothes that something in her chest squeezed tight. "Is – is he really..." he trailed off, unable to even speak the words.

The girl got to her feet quickly and hugged him tight, turning him away from the sight of the body, "Don't worry Tsuna. It's fine."

He began to hyperventilate.

"Whoa, whoa, he's really – " Takeshi spluttered loudly.

Aya nodded grimly.

"Don't worry," Reborn informed them brightly, "I called someone just in case of a situation like this," he announced, the sound of a motorcycle filtering in through the open window.

The last person she wanted to see vaulted in through the open window, wearing his school uniform of all things – really, it was a goddamn Sunday! They didn't even have classes today! Hibari's eyes flickered across the chaos of the room, pausing on Reborn, the corpse, and then the two of them, Tsuna tearily clinging to his Storm Guardian's clothing, the girl in question with blood on her hands and a dark expression on her face.

"What are you doing here, Hibari-senpai?" Takeshi asked warily, coming up close to both Aya and Tsuna but not quite going so far as to slip between them, though it was clear he wanted to.

"I came here so that the baby will owe me one. Like a deal," he explained idly as he planted a foot on the corpse, nudging it hard as he paid his former playmate only cursory attention.

"We've been waiting for you, Hibari," Reborn chastised.

He scoffed lazily as he observed the body, "Good job," he praised, sounding amused, "You got the heart in one shot. Okay. I can dispose of this corpse for you," he declared, eyes flicking between the snivelling Herbivore and the Female, ignoring the way the Omnivore bristled as if to challenge him.

"WHAAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!" Tsuna shrieked, quivering and tightening his grip on Aya's clothing.

"He will get rid of the corpse so it can never be found. That way, this murder never happened," Reborn explained cheerfully at his student who predictably freaked out, releasing the deathgrip he had on his Storm in order to flail at the Arcobaleno.

"THAT'S WRONG IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS!" Tsuna wailed.

"I'm going to have to agree on that, Reborn," the girl declared shortly, casting the Prefect a scornful glance. "Why did you bother calling him when I can disintegrate the body in two hours with absolutely no chance of it being discovered? Or blabbed about," she added darkly making the Prefect stiffen and shoot her a dark look.

"HIIIEEEEE AYA-CHAN THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Tsuna spluttered, fluttering agitatedly.

"The point is we have the resources to deal with this ourselves, he isn't one of us, he can't be trusted, and he shouldn't have been brought in to deal with such a situation," the girl stated firmly, casting a frown at Reborn. Really, the Arcobaleno should have known better than to let such sensitive information be revealed to someone who was not yet Famiglia. And what's more, owing him a favour? Best to nip this one in the bud.

She adjusted the ring on her finger and called her flame, the room filling with scarlet light as her hand was engulfed in high-grade Flame. She would protect Tsuna by making it so this body never existed, and if Hibari ever thought to try and hold this over her friend's head, she would do the same to him.

"_HOLY SHIT – NO – NO I'M NOT DEAD! I'M NOT DEAD – JESUS!_" the corpse squawked in panicked Italian, scrambling up and away from her, practically climbing the opposite wall to put as much distance between them as possible.

Aya wasn't the only one to jump, Tsuna shrieked and fell over his coffee table into Takeshi taking them both down into a pile of dirty clothes and textbooks while Hibari jerked and dropped into a battle stance, tonfa flicking out from where-ever it was he stored them.

"_WHAT THE HELL?!_" Aya snarled, launching herself forward and grabbing the corpse by the front of his clothing, she flipped him over her shoulder, throwing him down onto the floor and slammed her knee into his chest, holding him down and poising her hand beside her head, aimed down, one wrong move and her fingers were going through his eyesockets (and possibly into the floor behind it). "_You were fucking dead, I checked. No pulse, no pupil response, the blood was real, the gunpowder, there was no Mist illusion – what the fuck?_" she hissed furiously.

"This is Moretti, one of the Vongola's specialists," the Sun Arcobaleno explained in Japanese for the benefit of the native speakers, appearing on the girl's shoulder, a Leon-whip suddenly snapping around her wrist and pulling her hand away from the man's face. "He's a pro in being Assassinated."

"Vongola?" Aya repeated darkly, biceps bulging as she strained against the whip. No, she would not _pull her hand away_.

"Vongola. He's one of ours. It isn't everyday Moretti gets a chance to visit Japan, he approached me and asked for an opportunity to show Tsuna his 'Addio' technique," the Arcobaleno explained smoothly, tightening his grip on Leon as Aya's arm was slowly inched backwards away from the sweating 'thief' by sheer force. "Addio is a technique to stop his heart at will and achieve a state of apparent death. He has used this technique extensively during his work with both the CEDEF and the main Famiglia when extracting deep-cover spies from assignments."

"That doesn't explain the rest of it," Aya grit out darkly.

"Reborn told me that someone pretty sharp would probably be in attendance so I went all out!" Moretti wheezed, eyes still locked on the fistful of Storm Flames that were ever so _slowly_ being pulled from his face, "I wore specialist contact lenses, so my pupils wouldn't be seen to contract with light! And I used a cordite charge instead of a regular charge to burst the blood bag, I had a shoulder of pork that I'd soaked in a human bloodbag for a week fixed under my jacket, that's how it happened! My under shirt is armoured so the explosive wouldn't cause any problems or pain!" he explained rapidly, and _finally_ Aya allowed Reborn to drag her hand away and the Storm Flame to die.

She dragged her bloody hand through her hair and swore under her breath. What a _pain_.

Wait... She paused and eyed the Assassination pro as he wobbily got to his feet, Takeshi laughing at him while Tsuna sank weakly to the ground in a mixture of relief and exhaustion from the messy day he's just suffered. Was Addio, or Moretti, the one that subbed in for Tsuna during that Ten Years Later mess?

She jolted when a hand was suddenly thrust under her nose, she scowled when she realised just whose hand it was.

"Yes?" she bit out testily, frowning at the Prefect who was equally glaring at her, looking, if anything, uncomfortable.

"Phone number. Give it to me," he demanded, cheeks tinting just a little pink, so little that no one would have noticed if they hadn't been paying attention.

Her eyes narrowed, "And just _why_ would I do that?" she asked coldly.

His eyes shifted off her face and the pink became a little more pronounced, "My mother has your shirt. She wants to return it."

Her shirt? His moth- Hibari Yun-san? Aya frowned, confused and a little alarmed, when had that crazy woman gotten a hold of her shir- oh shit, she left it in the bathroom at school after Sports Day.

"Ah, right, give me a second," she muttered before turning and kicking over a few bits and bobs from Tsuna's floor. She quickly found a scrap of paper and pen and scribbled her number down for the Prefect and handed it over. He eyed it suspiciously, and then her, before taking his phone out and starting to dial. She rolled her eyes, "I'm hardly going to give you a fake number when she has something I actually want back," she scoffed as Heavy Metal began to blast from her handbag beside the door.

Eyebrows were raised amongst those in the room about her choice of ringtone.

She sniffed, ignoring them and folding her arms as Hibari cancelled the call and nodded, stalking out of the room via the window again (Honestly, who was he trying to impress?). She knew she didn't exactly _look_ like a metal head ninety percent of the time, but she also didn't look like a Mafioso or someone that routinely packed enough explosives to launch the Tokyo Tower into high-altitude orbit.

"Hey, Aya-chan, what was that red fire stuff?" Takeshi asked curiously.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it before," Tsuna admitted, peering curiously at her while Moretti blanched further and quickly made his quiet excuses to leave.

Aya glanced at Reborn who shook his head, "I'll tell you later," she promised with a smile, "For now, let's see about getting this mess cleaned up. If we don't start now, that blood will never come out," she declared nodding to the staining that Moretti had left behind.

Tsuna, predictably, shrieked in dismay at the thought of his room being decorated with human blood.

_**000**_

**And finite. First Time Killing was supposed to be relatively short all things considered, but then Addio and Ten Years Later appeared in my brain going 'what if' and I had to explore it further. Plus, it gave hilarious opportunities for awkward!Hibari and unimpressed!Aya, which is always good.**


	13. C13- I-pin

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
I-pin**

Gods above, I was bored. _SO_ bored.

Nezu was beyond boring, there was literally nothing that man could teach me, absolutely nothing. I'd already finished my classwork and listening to his droning (re: Lecturing) was liable to send me to sleep. As it was, I was already not far off, head pillowed by my arms, staring lazily at nothing as I ran various new chemical compositions through my head. The problem was getting hold of them in order to see which compound reacted best to Flame manipulation, if I could create a flame activated explosive it would make things a little more interesting if I could tag or plant someone with it, and the second they used their flame suddenly BOOM.

I chuckled under my breath; it would make dealing with the likes of Byakuran's _real_ Six Funeral Wraiths a lot easier. Especially their Storm who, if I could remember rightly, was a Flame _monster_.

"What kind of costume is that...?" someone muttered to my left.

"A Zebra?" a boy muttered in disgust.

"Isn't it a panda?" a girl wondered.

"I'd say it's a cow..." another girl corrected, confused.

Cow? I looked up and followed my nearest neighbour's line of sight to the window where – yup, Lambo.

He was doing a very awkward pee-dance-clench on the windowsill, tearfully blubbering about how his zipper broke and he couldn't pee. I got to my feet, gesturing at Tsuna to stay where he was, he wasn't very good with kids and I'd babysat enough of my cousin's children that I could deal with broken zippers, or wetting oneself-accidents. Plus, I needed an excuse to get out of this class; I was going insane with boredom.

"_Come on, Lambo, let's get you to the bathroom,_" I told him in Italian, scooping the squirming five year old up. I had to move quickly, I didn't particularly fancy getting pissed on, having that happen when I was changing Matthew was more than enough (I swear that brat was aiming whenever I changed his nappy, there was no way he could consistently aim for either my face or my cleavage whenever I had to do it). And having baby Laura have a case of vomiting _and_ pooping all over me while I was checking the temperature of her bathwater while babysitting was... yes, I could handle it, that didn't mean I wanted to though.

I managed to get him into the girls' room and used my pocket knife to slice open the stitching along his zipper so he could go. He still left a mess and I apologised mentally to my classmates who would have to clean the toilets after school before picking him up so he could wash his hands.

"_Is that better?_" I asked as I gathered some papertowels for him to dry his hands.

"_Yes Mama,_" the five year old dutifully answered. I sighed.

"_Sister, Lambo, sister. I'm not your Mama,_" I corrected for what must have been the five hundredth time since he first barrelled into our lives. Either I must have _looked_ enough like his mother for him to be confused, or he had decided that I made a better mother than his own – which was weird given how he was living with what must have been near enough the epitome of motherhood that Sawada Nana embodied (at least according to the manga).

"Mama," Lambo insisted, this time in Japanese.

I sighed, taking his hand, "Oneechan, Lambo," I repeated again as I lead him through the corridors.

"Gyahaha, Mama! MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA!" he yelled obnoxiously, swinging on my hand as I practically carried him through half of the school.

"Oneechan. Or you get tickles. And NO grape candy," I threatened, grinning when he gasped and promptly sealed his mouth shut. He was easy to control if you knew how, sadly it would only last so long. Thankfully it was long enough to get him to reception and to call my sister to come and collect him, though a few of the Disciplinary Committee gave me odd looks as I casually entertained the five year old with sleight of hand tricks while waiting for her.

Bianchi came, and went, taking Lambo under one arm as she left, even though she looked like she would have rather pitched him over the first bridge she found than babysit. But she loved me too much to do that.

"We need to find a babysitter," Reborn announced from my shoulder, and goddamn I think I pulled something when I tensed up. My stomach hurt. That sadistic little troll, I swear he does this on purpose.

"He's fine," I negated, "between Tsuna, myself, Takeshi, and Kyoko-chan we can manage him well enough for now." The problems would occur later when we had to deal with the likes of VARIA, and Byakuran. But I had hopes to have given Lambo a little training by that point, or at least put the fear of god in the little brat to a sufficient degree that he'd listen when I told him '_no_'.

"And later?" Reborn prompted making me crane my head back to give him the look I felt he deserved.

"You chose him for the Lightning Guardian. Having second thoughts?" I taunted. He shot me a Look before roughly tugging on a strand of hair and jumping off my shoulder without answering. I snorted in amusement, trailing after him through the school corridors; it looked as though I'd won that argument. He would get me back for it later though, the Sun Arcobaleno was the type of guy that absolutely _had_ to get the last word in an argument, and would keep that argument going until he had it.

I didn't expect him to present me to my comeuppance so quickly. I followed him around the corner and froze, almost like a deer in the headlights as I came nose to nose with a certain Prefect I had been avoiding for the last week. Grey eyes blinked once in surprise before narrowing even as I grimaced in annoyance. This was perhaps the last thing I wanted to deal with today. That mother fucking little troll – I would get revenge for this. One way or another.

"Woman, you have not attended your assigned Detentions."

"I didn't break any rules, I categorically refuse to attend a punishment I did not earn," I declared before attempting to side-step him. He grabbed at my arm, and I skipped out of reach.

Things just went downhill from there, and Reborn was no where to be found.

Mother fucker.

_**000**_

Disregarding the fight between myself and the Head Prefect that netted me another month of Detentions I had no intention of attending, and cost the school a few hundred thousand yen in damages (those I paid for half of, the Hibari family could deal with the rest), I also had something else to deal with in the meantime.

Reborn's surprise Birthday Party. Something which I knew would also mean that _Tsuna's_ Birthday was the day after.

I collared Takeshi after our club activities, asking if it would be possible to book a table at his Dad's restaurant for the day, he went one further and suggested they just have the party at his house – that way they could do multiplayer on his game consoles instead of just eating. We contacted Ryohei, and Kyoko, telling them about our plans for the day after Reborn's birthday, Vongola party games would _not_ be included, they were a little too stressful for Tsuna at present.

However, I did tell them what would be expected at Reborn's party. I knew Kyoko-chan would be cooking a birthday cake, Bianchi told me she would be bringing a little taste of home to Japan by tossing pizza, Takeshi said he would provide the food... Did Tsuna know- what am I talking about, of course he didn't know. I'd have to come up with something for him to give as well... A Flame focusing ring perhaps? Leon could channel Sun flames no problem, and that was Reborn's preferred method of combat, using Leon as a gun to channel direct blasts of Activation Flame to literally make cells explode (thus causing limbs to explode at the same time, if a Sun Flame user blew your arm off there was literally no chance to reattach it and somewhere in the region of a ninty-percent probability if you survive of getting either necrosis or cancer). But Leon wasn't always available. He went into periods of dormancy, and while Reborn could never be called anything even approaching 'vulnerable', even with his curse, not having his preferred weapon close at hand would have made him _itchy_ under his skin.

As for myself... I missed my piano, I figured I could get it out of storage and play some classical music, it would probably go down well, and I knew Bianchi would like it as well. It would fit well enough in the Sawadas' front room, but not into my own flat. It would be nice to play again.

The last thing I expected to find upon coming home after making all of these arrangements was Hibari Kyouya's mother on my doorstep, she was sat on the stairs wearing a white pea-coat, her long hair thickly braided and tucked under a knitted lavender cap that matched the lavender knit scarf trailing messily from one of her pockets. Tucked under her arm was a black handbag, and held tightly to her chest was a brown paper bag.

Not for the first time I was struck by how lovely she looked; she was a very beautiful woman, and _naggingly_ familiar in appearance. Not just because her son had inherited her bone structure, but because of something else – she had yet to make me want to plant a fist between her nose and eyebrows like her son had. She did not look her age. Nor did she look like she could have a sixteen year old son who regularly terrorised Namimori for shits and giggles.

I debated whether or not I should turn around and walk away when I spotted her. No offence, she was rather... full on. Like her son. But in a different way and – I wasn't good with people like that. At least, not anymore? For some reason I was still very temperamental compared to normal, riding highs and lows, getting bent out of shape over things I would have normally brushed off, and not caring over things I would have noted and taken seriously before hand. I was already stepping all over the head Prefect's delicate sensibilities by not only refusing to attend his stupid detentions but also in refusing to fight him, and when I _do_ thoroughly kicking his ass. I didn't want to know what reaction he would have if I inadvertently offended his mother.

But, urgh, it would probably be worse if I didn't. She looked like she'd been there a while. Just how long did she plan on waiting?

"Uhm, Hibari-san? Can I help you?" I asked as I made my way over.

The woman immediately jumped to her feet, beaming, "Haya-chan! Good evening, nice to see you again, did you have a good day at school?" she asked brightly as I came to a stop beside her. She was blocking my way up the stairs.

"Ah, it was...good. A bit dull, but nothing bad happened," I explained with an awkward shrug, and then, because manners dictated: "How was your day?" I asked politely, not particularly out of any actual interest.

Hibari Yun bounced in place a little, "It was good! Very good! I attended cooking class this morning and didn't explode the oven for once so that was nice! Oh, and I also finally got around to cleaning your shirt, I'm terribly sorry I didn't do it sooner but it seemed as though I had mislaid it for a little bit in the laundry room," she gushed apologetically as I shifted in front of her, not actually expecting anything of a substantial response. She blew up ovens in her cooking class?

"Ah, thank you, Hibari-san," I said as she smiled at me, head tilted to one side. That smile was really nagging at me now, it was _so_ familiar.

"Call me Yun-Popo, Haya-chan," she insisted with a bright smile.

Wait, _Popo_?!

"M-mother-?" I choked in disbelief. Had she really just asked me to refer to her as 'mother in law'? Specifically, my _husband's_ mother? It had been a while since I'd last spoken Chinese, I must have heard that wrong, or gotten the translations mixed up, that _had_ to be it. Because otherwise she was insinuating relations between myself and her son and – no, just no. I'm pretty sure he _hated_ me for trampling all over his precious order, and pride. Fucking around in an area that _any_ strong Flame User had decided was _theirs_ wasn't too smart, we were possessive fuckers at the best of times if we hadn't been properly trained at the right time. Hell, I was self-aware enough to know I had a bad habit of claiming people and things connected to them (touch my piano and prepare for a messy death), I could be a possessive, protective _bitch_ at the best of times. Murderous and psychotic at the worst. Anyone who even looked at Tsuna sideways found that out the hard way. (Was Yun-san even Chinese anyway? I don't know of any Japanese honourifics that match but that doesn't mean that there aren't any, I could be wrong. That's probably it. She couldn't have been asking me to call her mother, never mind mother in _law_.)

Hibari-san nodded, smiling brightly and guilelessly, "Yes!"

My heart sank, okay, maybe she was speaking Chinese.

"I, uh, I'm afraid I cannot, Yun-san. My mother is dead, and I will not be replacing her. Ever," I informed the woman who immediately recoiled in horror. If I wasn't going to be calling Sawada Nana 'mama', I would not be calling Hibari Yun 'mother' or any iteration there of either.

"Oh, I am _so_ sorry, Haya-chan!" she exclaimed, and then, much to _my_ horror, whisked me up in a tight hug – gods this woman was strong! I wheezed trying to wriggle my way free but her arms were like iron bands around my sides as she mashed my face into her breasts – even though she was shorter than me, she was stood on a higher step making this situation _that_ much more awkward as I tried to pull myself free with all the grace of a cat confronted with a bathtub.

"I-it's alright, Yun-san, you didn't know," I rasped and finally she let me go, still looking horribly guilty. I was beginning to get the feeling this woman was probably a Classic Sun, or perhaps a Classic Storm, she was very... passionate, and energetic. Full on, I think I called her earlier.

We trailed into an awkward silence that only I seemed to notice as I shifted uncomfortably on the bottom step, Yun-san appeared to be completely immune as she drooped in place, not looking me in the eye, genuinely upset that she'd committed such a social faux pas.

I was going to regret this.

"Would you like to come in, Yun-san? I have some nice tea from when I last passed through China if you would be interested?" I offered, watching as she jerked and looked up in surprise, blue eyes wide before she immediately lit up excitedly, guilt and upset forgotten.

"Oh! Oh, yes please!"

Carefully squeezing past her, I lead the way upstairs, only idly wondering how she found out where I lived when I'd only given her son my phone-number (neither of which had actually used it). Unlocking the door, I flicked the lights and nudged my shoes off before stepping in properly and opening the door wide enough to let her in.

"Come in, make yourself at home. I'll put on some tea," I told her as I set my bag down on the tiny kitchen counter.

I couldn't quite understand her facial expression as she stepped in, toeing off her leather flats as carefully edging her way inside, rather a bit like a cat investigating new territory. I peeled my coat off and hung it up before offering to take hers, she quickly set her things down and pulled it off revealing the same white poloneck she'd been wearing the day we met and a pair of neat black skinny-jeans. I left her to explore my room and sit uncertainly on the floor next to the coffee table as I put the kettle on and rummaged some of the left over onigiri and green tea mocchi from the last time Takeshi and Tsuna dropped by to visit.

Bringing a tray with a small teaset and snacks out, I found her holding the photoframe I kept beside my bed with a very interesting expression on her face,one torn between disbelief, excitement, confusion, delight, and irritation. It was an interesting dynamic on her face. She was surprisingly expressive given how her son averaged three expressions a month and all of them being some cousin or nephew of 'homicidal'.

"You are one of _gēge_'s students?" she asked as she shifted the photoframe to be seen, pointing to my shifu.

I nearly dropped the tray even as I set it down. Wasn't _gēge _the Chinese for 'older brother'? As in, blood related older brother, not Student-Older brother that someone who merely learned under the same martial arts instructor would have used, or _dage_ which was very much like the Japanese Aniki?

"He... He's your older brother?" I asked, confused.

She nodded, staring intently at my face as I sat back and tried to digest the fact that I had apparently run into my Shifu's younger sister and – wait, hadn't it been a thing in canon that they were related? That he'd even asked him to -

"Y-yes. He – Shifu, he is my Shifu," I explained as I took the picture frame from the other woman, "He found me when I was eleven. I'd... I was in a bad place, a _very_ bad place. He patched me up, took me back to China, taught me how to defend myself. I was with him for about two years before I left again, I'd infringed on his hospitality long enough and he was receiving pressure from the Triads about passing on his skills to someone not of their group..." I explained, trailing off as I stared down at the picture of myself as a thirteen year old sparring with the Storm Arcobaleno, Fēng.

"It's a small world," I said looking up at – well, I supposed she was my Shigu now, though I wasn't a hundred percent certain which honourific was now appropriate for my Master's younger sister. Technically Shigu was not correct unless Shifu had been the one to teach her.

Yun beamed at me, "But it keeps things interesting, I had no idea _gēge_ had a student!" she exclaimed, leaning forward.

"_Two_," I corrected in Mandarin as I leaned forward and poured her a cup of tea, nudging the snacks forward. We may as well make a proper go of it. "_There were two of us, my Shigu practised Gyouza Kenpo almost exclusively as Shifu wasn't happy teaching her a contact martial art until she was considerably older,_" I explained as Yun-Shigu's eyes lit up in excitement. "_He opted to teach me his Kazeryuu as we share a Flame Affinity,_" I explained as I poured myself a cup of oolong.

"_Tell me about her, about yourself, my brother never tells me anything anymore,_" the woman begged, wrapping her hands around her tea.

So I did.

Over oolong tea, onigiri, and green tea mocchi, we spent the rest of the evening chatting about Shigu, Shifu, myself, our training, how things were currently going with the Triads, and China in general. We drained the first tea pot dry and I put on another one, surprised to find myself genuinely enjoying the older woman's company – it was almost as if I were Aggie once again, and at work chatting to colleagues, or university, talking to lecturers. As if I were an adult instead of a teenager, it was _so_ refreshing and pleasant. You never quite realise how often people talk down to teenagers until you find yourself on the receiving end of that behaviour. I didn't even have to worry about omerta,or censor any of my more unpleasant stories like I would have done for Tsuna or Takeshi because Yun-shigu was a former Hitwoman, she'd probably done or at least heard of people doing worse.

She eventually ended up staying for dinner, perched on one of the kitchen counters, hands wrapped around a cup of tea, while I fried some rice with egg and whatever else I had in the fridge, mixed up some batter for the diced chicken breast, and made up a spicy glaze for the shredded beef. We laughed and exchanged stories of kitchen disasters, it seemed as though Yun-shigu had the same problem I did when I first struck out alone – my sister had _poison_ cooking, I however possessed _Dynamite_ cooking. Which was great for someone who specialised in mid-range demolitions, not so much when you wanted to make yourself a plate of chicken nuggets and potato wedges. Yun-shigu however did not have the same memories of learning how to cook from Aggie's mother Penny.

"I'll teach you," I found myself assuring the housewife as I tipped the battered chicken into an oily wok, "It wouldn't do for the Vongola's future Cloud Guardian to die of food poisoning before Reborn can even recruit him properly," I laughed, unaware of how Yun went very, _very_ still in her seat, blue eyes dominating her face in shock.

The squeal she let out made me jump hard enough to tip hot oil all over the oven – oh _fuck_!

I had to shove her off me and grab the fire extinguisher before the whole thing blew up, "Get back! GET BACK!" I shouted even as I wrenched the cord off and took aim as the stove top went up in flames.

I emptied the can even as I took steps backwards, crowding Yun away from the potential hazard (I'd blown up enough ovens to know that sometimes not even a foam extinguisher was good enough), throwing it to one side, I grabbed the former Hitwoman and threw both of us behind the coffee table, flipping it up with a foot and covering her with my own body (giving only passing thought to the broken teapot and mourning its loss, Shifu had given me that for my last birthday when I expressed an appreciation for his own tea set).

The two of us remained still, our eyes clamped shut as we waited for the inevitable BANG.

When none came... I slowly slid off the older woman and peered over the table, Yun following my example and peeking over, just her eyes and the tip of her nose visible as I warily climbed to my feet and crept closer to the oven; fully prepared to throw myself backwards at the first sign of danger. When I'd first moved in, that fire extinguisher had been one of the first things I'd bought when getting kitchen appliances, and utensils. It was one of the best fire suppression brands according to the sales woman. As much as I _liked_ my cooking, the ability to weaponize a toaster with just a poptart was not particularly appreciated. Seriously, whichever ancestor I had that managed to weaponize culinary abilities, I wish them a thousand deaths in the afterlife, a million torments, and forever that their bacon should burn.

It seemed safe enough...

"So..." I declared, sticking my hands into the thick viscous foam that now covered my oven, half the wall behind it, and part of the floor. I turned the stove off. Shaking foam off my hand and turning to my guest, a wry smile twisted my face, "Take out?"

She glomped me.

_**000**_

We did, indeed, end up having take out, though Yun was kind enough to pay for it as it was her scream that used the accident in the first place. She ordered from Takesushi, requesting the orange menu, only to be told it was unavailable, and then opted instead for the Blue Menu. The Blue Menu, apparently, was part of a secret menu that Takesushi did solely for Flame Users – apparently Namimori had quite a community of them in all manner of hidden corners.

They were all perfectly normal seafood platters, the core difference being the thermos of tea. _Flame_ infused tea. As you could assume, they were all colour coded to the flame you wanted, and all possessed a different effect, or so Yun told me.

Orange was Sky flame tea, and if you weren't used to it, you could be hit with Sky Attraction _so_ hard you may as well be stoned off your face with it, absolutely monged out. Yellow was Sun flame, obviously, and was generally used in place of energy drinks and caffeine pills. Blue was Rain flame, and calmed you right down, turning the most anxious or violent of drinkers into placid zen like calm, Yun confessed that while she was pregnant with Kyouya she had so many anxiety attacks over his future that she was practically drinking it every evening – it was probably why he was so _not_ calm right now. Red was Storm flame, it seemed to operate as an illness cure-all, if you were suffering a sore throat, a cold, the flu, even a stomach bug, or constipation, a cup of Storm Tea would clear it up, though it did come with a warning not to drink it if you were pregnant, or had either a stomach ulcer or sensitive stomach. Violet was Cloud tea and operated on a similar vein to the Storm tea in that it helped with illnesses and the like, however, it worked on bolstering the immune system, propogating white blood cells and the like, it was also good for liver problems, headaches, and if you suffered from degenerative conditions. Indigo was Mist flame and one of the more popular teas as it helped a great deal with insomnia and PTSD, a cup of Indigo tea before bed _ensured_ good dreams and if you _did_ flash back, it would steer the memories from traumatic to pleasant – so instead of witnessing a murder, it would lead your brain to a summer afternoon you spent with a lover or a friend instead. As for Green menu, Lightning tea, Yun spurted into childish giggles as she explained this one, it was considered an aphrodisiac. Specifically for men due in part to its 'hardening' capabilities.

I remembered staring at her over the rim of my Rain tea in disbelief as this woman who was considerably older than me, possessed a son, and had most _definitely_ had more sex in her life than I had in _both_ of mine, broke down into snorting giggles that she had to smother in both hands. She was unexpectedly cute, if a little unkind in laughing at men with erectile dysfunctions.

Eventually though, she had to go home, though we made it last until well past midnight. I regretted it in the morning when we had to prepare for Reborn's birthday party, but at the time I didn't care. I'd made a new friend, and even though she was _technically_ over twice my age, she was pretty cool. We even made arrangements to spar some day in the future.

Reborn's party was fairly standard fair, as least, I thought so. Kyoko's cake went down well, as did Takeshi's sushi. Bianchi's Pizza cutting technique destroyed most of Tsuna's living room and shore an inch of my still too short for comfort hair as I ducked her attack, but Reborn liked it so she got about ninety points. Lambo's gift got only the one point, which was pretty harsh given how he was only five, Reborn was lucky to have received _anything_ from a five year old, I certainly never got anything for anyone at five in either life. The gift I slipped Tsuna of the Flame rings won Tsuna sixty points – and a kick to the face, Reborn admonishing him for not thinking of anything himself and next time getting a gift himself instead of having me do it for him. I tied with Bianchi at ninety points after I managed to get my piano set up in the garden, it was fairly dark by then so it was all lit with candles, and I played for everyone. A few of the neighbours even stopped by to listen, which was both embarrassing and flattering.

It was the very next morning that I got a text alert on my phone.

The facial recognition software had pinged me, someone with connections to the Underworld had just set foot in Namimori.

"_Shimei?_" a little voice behind me chirped curiously even as I opened up the picture on my phone. A very _familiar_ voice.

"Eh?" I twitched and turned, ignoring my phone as I looked down. "_Shigu! What are you __doing__ in Japan?!_"

I-pin beamed up at me.

_**000**_

**Just because people have been whinging, there ****WILL**** be canon divergence, **_**later**_**. It is already within the plot, I have changed things, that means there will be ripple effects later in the story. They're just not readily apparent now.**

_And just so people don't get a bug up their butts, Fēng is the CHINESE Pinyin for Fon. So, when we have chapters in Aya's perspective, his name will be Fēng, because she knows chinese. In third person perspectives, it will be Fon._

Also, apologies for the lack of updates, I just moved house, and got internet back today (blessed blessed internet, never leave me again).


	14. C14- Bucking Horse Dino

_**000**_

**THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT**

_**000**_

_I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha._

_**000**_

SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

_**000**_

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
Bucking Horse Dino**

The silver haired girl shoved her phone into her pocket and bowed respectfully to her Senior, waiting until she received one in return before immediately whisking the five year old up into a tight hug.

"_What are you doing in Japan, Shigu? Where is Master?_" she asked, peering around at the top of the walls and telegraph poles where he usually liked to loiter in order to feel the wind currents.

"_Master is still home in China. I have been given a job to do_," I-pin explained importantly as she rummaged a photograph out of her pocket, _"Honourable Fai Jin has commanded that this man must die, and awarded I-pin the honour of his trust in handling the kill,_" she boasted happily as she presented a picture of a young man with a very round face and large flat nose with a cigar stuck between his lips.

Aya frowned, "_Shigu, Master does not want you to be taking jobs without his approval, or supervision, and certainly not hits. Does he even __know__ about this?_" she asked doubtfully as she flipped the photo over, on the back was the man's name 'Dustin Bridges', apparently an American gangster who offended the Triads while gambling in Las Vegas. He'd taken liberties with the daughter of the Chapter Head in that city, and now the Triads were looking for retribution. But why send _I-pin_? She was _five_, and hardly qualified for such jobs!

"_Master knows!_" I-pin hastily assured her, "_Honourable Fai Jin has cleared it with him, he even said that Master thought my training was far along enough to perform such tasks alone!_"

And that merely confirmed, one hundred percent, that this scum sucker Fai Jin was lying and trying to get some measure of revenge on the Storm Arcobaleno, either to muzzle him, get back at him, or just to remind him that he wasn't invulnerable. That stupid _fuck_. He may as well have just signed the death warrants for his entire chapter. The silver haired girl sighed deeply as she adjusted her hold on the little girl, how to break this to her without upsetting her? I-pin was very sensitive about such matters, and the thought of disappointing Shifu was enough to send her into inconsolable tears for hours.

"_Perhaps, Shigu. But you must have been travelling for days, come. A bath, a hot meal, and a night in a proper bed, how does that sound?_" she offered as she knelt and picked up the Martial Artist's travelling pack. "_I even have some Oolong left from when I last passed through,_" she bargained, grinning when I-pin agreed happily.

Back at home, she saw I-pin into the bathroom with a thick fluffy towel, showed her where to find the wash products, and then called Shifu the moment the door closed behind the younger girl.

It rang a few times before picking up, "_Aya, you rarely call,_" Shifu greeted, no other invitation to speak further, or offer of help, or insinuation that she even required help, merely an observation as to how rare it was to hear from her.

"_Shigu has found her way into my care. Apparently Honourable Fai Jin has cleared a hit for her with you,_" the former Hitwoman reported without even a single iota of remorse as she literally threw a man she'd never met into what basically amounted to a meat grinder. If he was willing to put a five year old to her death in an assassination mission she should have never even heard of, he deserved the consequences that followed. Like the pissed off Storm Arcobaleno that was about to knock _through_ his front door.

"_I see. Thank you for your quick actions. Is she well?_" he asked, a very slight sigh of relief escaping him.

"_She is well, thoroughly enjoying my bathroom at present. You are welcome to join us if you are in the area._" he likely was. Aya hadn't programmed I-pin's face into the facial recognition software, but Shifu's certainly was. And if I-pin had come into the country without his permission, then he would be following scant breaths behind her.

"_I believe I would enjoy that. A chance to catch up with both of my students is a rare pleasure,_" he said pleasantly. Aya smiled as she rattled off her address and hung up, moving to get tea and snacks set up enough for the three of them.

She moved through her small apartment, cleaning up after herself, throwing dirty clothes into the washing, straightening books, papers, and bags here and there, putting them away, making her bed, etc. I-pin eventually surfaced, clean, and happy as she settled down onto one of the cushions the elder of the two laid out around the coffee table – now pulled out from the wall, wiped clean, and laid out with wicker coasters and place mats with tea-cups and plates of snacks.

"_Shifu is apparently in Japan. He just rang to see if he could visit,_" Aya explained as she poured the five year old a cup of tea before frowning, "_I-pin, where are the glasses I got for you?_" she asked. She's specifically taken I-pin into Hong Kong in order to get her eyes checked and a set of toddler's glasses made for her, even going so far as to pay for the glass to be treated and near-enough unbreakable. She'd braided and knitted an elastic strap as well so they wouldn't slip off I-pin's head while practising, at least until she was able to get the plastic surgery in order to reconstruct her ears. It had been something of a surprise when she first met I-pin to learn that her parents had abandoned her to die in the gutters of Kowloon because of a minor but rare birth defect. If Shifu hadn't had business in the Walled city that day, the little girl would have died in the gutter, mauled to death by feral dogs, or perhaps picked up by a street vendor and used for food (baby girls that were abandoned often ended up in illegal delicacies – aborted female foetus was often used in a soup said to improve virility and fertility).

I-pin pulled an apologetic face, "_The strap broke,_" she admitted sadly even as she dug into her pack to present the spectacles and frayed strap. It looked as though it had just been worn down by heavy use.

Aya took them off her and carefully examined the strap, "_It's alright, Shigu, these things happen. I'll repair it tomorrow, but you'll have to postpone your hit until I have it repaired. It would not do to shame Honourable Fai Jin by mistaking the thorn you are to remove from his side,_" she told the little girl as she turned and set the glasses onto her desk behind her. I-pin made a noise of agreement, but anything else she could have said was cut off as a knock resounded on the door.

At least the Storm Arcobaleno was more polite than the Sun, Aya mused as she got to her feet. Reborn would have just crawled through the window, and then dodged whatever she threw at him for startling her.

She bowed in greeting to her tiny Master before allowing him in.

She would leave Shifu to cancel I-pin's hit on this Dustin Bridges as she was, regardless of her age, I-pin's Junior, and not even a member of the Triads. She had no authority over the five year old by Chinese standards; I-pin, in fact, had seniority over Aya like any other Senpai would have.

_**000**_

The next few weeks were surprisingly quiet, Shifu had requested that I-pin move in with her on a permanent basis, to further her training under the eye of someone more trust worthy while he dealt with this Fai Jin back in China (he even went so far as to name her _Todai,_ his apprentice, thus giving her seniority over I-pin and basically adopting Aya as the heir to his personal Martial Art – she already _was_ but this just made it official, and since she was a Guardian now it put her firmly outside of the Triad's influence even with Shifu's loyalties). With the extra mouth to feed, clothe, and school, Aya found herself pinching pennies with increasing aggression and budgeting like her mother used to during the financial crash when the banks went under.

She needed another job. She huffed in distress, she was barely managing her work hours, school hours, club hours, and spending time with Tsuna. She was going to have to drop one of them in order to earn more money. But they weren't WILLING to give her more hours at work though! She supposed... she could take up hits once more. But that – she wasn't keen on that.

Perhaps if she dropped her club hours... She could start tutoring her classmates? That could work...

"Coupons are a godsend," one of the other shelf-stockers, Yuuri-chan, suggested as they refilled the drink fridges. "Then again, a pretty girl like you would have no problem finding yourself a sugar daddy," she pointed out seriously, "I did it during Highschool so I could afford text books and make-up," she explained as she grunted, hauling a large box of Tiger Beer from the transport delivery cage.

Aya huffed, "Should you really be recommending a grey area of prostitution to a fourteen year old? I'm pretty sure that's illegal," she pointed out as she dragged out a case of mango ramune out after her.

"In the west maybe. Thirteen is age of consent here. What you do with other people is nothing to do with the law beyond morality," Yuuri pointed out as she tore open the plastic casing and began to fill the fridge shelves.

"You can still be arrested for it," Aya pointed out dryly as she pulled another case off the delivery cage. "Besides, most guys are a little intimidated by the fact I have biceps bigger than their dicks." Never mind that she actually had some equipment that would be unappreciated.

Something whistled behind her, just catching the edges of her hearing – she jerked backwards, black flashing just past the tip of her nose and _shattering_ the fridge windows.

Yuuri squealed and fell backwards over the cases, sprawling hard on the floor as a certain Prefect dislodged his tonfa from the fridge windows.

"Woman," he snarled darkly, glaring at the Storm Guardian as she shifted backwards defensively, "Working as a Namimori student is strictly prohibited - "

"I have permission from the Administration - " she interrupted in annoyance, only to be cut off herself.

"– For possessing an unauthorised job, and polluting the morals of Namimori with indecent conversations: I will _BITE_ you to death!" he hissed, actually looking furious as opposed to his usual apathetic blood thirst.

"I _told_ you! I have permission!" she snapped back even as she jerked to the side to avoid a tonfa strike, "Call the goddamn school and find – oh for the love of – would you STOP – STOP!" she shouted as she kept having to dodge out of his strikes. He tore down shelves, shattering jars, tearing packets and boxes, shattering food and condiments across the floors.

"WOULD YOU STOP IT?!" she snarled lunging forward and grabbing both his tonfa, crossing his arms and ramming him up against the fridges, shouting in his face.

He lunged forward and smashed his forehead into her face, she felt something crack and a hot rush of wet heat from her now throbbing nose.

She brought her knee up in a _punishing_ blow to the fork of his legs.

Hibari Kyouya wheezed, his grey eyes nearly popping out of his skull as he doubled over. She released him and stepped back, letting him slide to the floor and cup himself as he cringed. It was probably the first time anyone had ever kneed him in the balls in his life.

She grabbed his collar and drew him up, spitting blood to one side as she shook him roughly until he met her gaze, "You _ever_ barge into my place of work and pick a fight again, it will be the _last_ fight you _ever_ have," she snarled viciously as she hauled him out of the convenience store and dumped him in the gutter.

A moment later, she threw his tonfa out after him. Making sure one of them bounced off his stupid hard head in the process.

_**000**_

She lost her job at the Convenience Store, on top of her broken nose.

She could have spat _wasps_.

She had goddamn permission from the school to be there! The store knew that! She knew that! She was betting her long bow that the Head Prefect now knew that! But the store wasn't willing to risk another confrontation with the blood thirsty Prefect _or_ his committee over her – even though they damn well _KNEW_!

Not only that, but she'd blown half her savings on paying back the school for half the damages she'd caused during her last fight with that psychotic Cloud Potential.

She was going to have to take a Hit, or a turn in the Fight Clubs in order to make rent this month.

She asked Nana-san if she would be willing to put I-pin up before taking a week from school, telling Tsuna and Takeshi where she was going, and shipping out of Namimori and into Tokyo where she made her reappearance in the clubs.

For some reason, they seemed to think her absence made her weaker, not stronger. She thoroughly disabused them of this mistaken notion.

This time she made a point of betting on herself as she fought. She earned seven times as much as she did last time.

More than enough money to last her to the end of the year in terms of rent and utilities – longer still if she managed to find herself a job between then and now. She would find something, something that _didn't_ involve sponging off someone rich in return for sexual favours.

And she was going to kick that fucking bastard hard enough to pop one of his goddamn balls when she ran into him again.

But first, she had to pick I-pin up and reassure Tsuna that she'd returned unharmed. Then it would be printing CVs off, and job hunting, hopefully she would find something in the region of evening work, if not weekend stuff that paid well enough not to need work for the rest of the week.

She sighed as she plodded slowly down the street towards Tsuna's place, she supposed she could do music... she heard _that_ paid well. Providing entertainment at swanky evening dinners and other such events. It was how her mother made money before she fell in with that piss-stain she called a sperm donor in this life.

She stopped, spotting a swarm of black in front of her Sky's house, the majority of them Flame Actives, if not Useful, all of them armed, wearing almost trademarked mafioso suits.

What. The. Hell?!

Green eyes narrowed as tension corkscrewed up her spine, as if someone had rammed an iron rod up it.

Someone must have been Flame Sensitive enough to have noticed her churning Storm Flame because a shout went up amongst them and weapons were suddenly being pulled from pockets, jackets, and other assorted locations.

She unslung her bag, and dropped it.

_**000**_

Reborn honestly expected more of a reaction, he was torn between disappointment and approval.

He had set up the meeting between his former stupid student and his current stupid student to gage how Tsuna would react to another Sky encroaching upon his territory, his safe place, while he was unprotected and without Guardians. He had arranged it _precisely_ to see a Rivalry reaction between them: the men barring access to the house to anyone not directly related to Tsuna – thus putting hostages within easy reach; Dino occupying Tsuna's room with his own throne – taking over his personal space; the men at Tsuna's back – a threat he couldn't see; even Dino's flaring Sky Flames – showing off a willingness and capability to use them against the younger Sky...

And stupid student 2.0 just blushes in embarrassment as they casually pick apart all of his flaws and laugh in his face about them.

Tsuna was perhaps the most chilled out Sky he'd ever had the pleasure of encountering. His Flame didn't bristle defensively, nor did it spread out to try and smother Dino's own, nor even attempt to sing out to him and draw him into an alliance. If Reborn could liken it to anything, Tsuna's flame just accepted that Dino was there, and doing his own thing. Beyond that, nothing. The complete acceptance immediately had Dino's own Sky Flame relaxing, if not cleaving to Tsuna's own, which was a singularly odd experience given how his first stupid student was a currently Useful Sky, able to use his flame via his own power, while Tsuna was not.

It spoke very highly for Tsuna's temperament as a Sky, his ability to accept others, and perhaps how badly he had been beaten down by Guardian Potentials throughout his childhood that he was now so used to bullying that it didn't even stir his flame unless his life was actually in danger.

The house shook with a loud explosion outside.

"HIIIEEEE! IS LAMBO PLAYING WITH EXPLOSIVES AGAIN?!" Tsuna shrieked in alarm, half wondering why he even bothered to be so wound up anymore – and then he saw one of the suited men outside go sailing past his window. On the second floor.

At speed.

Somehow he didn't think Lambo was responsible for that.

Reborn huffed a chuckle, "It seems as though Aya-chan has returned from Tokyo," he observed dryly as another explosion rocked the house and three more of Dino's men went sailing past the window, much to the astonishment of their blond Boss gaping at Tsuna's window in a mix of horror and dismay. He hadn't expected the young Storm to return, and while he would have likened this reaction to a Cloud Guardian's, it was in keeping with her mixed affinities and temperament. Plus, Tsuna had no other Guardians with such physical capabilities yet, she was considerably more high-strung as a result. Tsuna and the rest of his budding Famiglia were at a puny level ten, while she was prowling around at a deadly level thirty, perhaps even higher if she used that frightful logic and intellect she had hiding behind that pretty face. Reborn did so like the smart ones, they were so hard to find amidst Flame Actives and Users given their universal habit of Fixating. He was perhaps an exception to the norm in that his Fixation had been on education, the giving and receiving of.

Dino tore out of his throne and lunged through Tsuna's open bedroom window, "_Guys! Stand back, I'll handle _her?!" he spluttered in alarm when he finally got a look at just whom was sending his men flying, blue eyes going wide when he came face to face with a shockingly pretty young woman – currently launching one of his men _over_ one of the houses with an angled palm thrust to the stomach.

He would be lying if he said he didn't stall for a moment, every bone in his body rejecting the idea of physically attacking a lady. He – he _couldn't_! Reborn had been very insistent that he was to never attack a lady, that proper Bosses had to treat women with respect!

He Reached for her instead.

He couldn't fight her, but she was obviously a Flame User, so if he brought her under his influence he wouldn't _need_ to – HOLY FUCK SHIT!

Dino yelped as he threw himself to one side, the wall behind his head disintegrating under the force of a Storm Flame laced punch.

He felt a cold sweat bead on the back of his neck as icy green eyes turned to lock onto him. Oh... Oh crap.

Rejection.

That... that was a first.

He'd never been Rejected before. He'd heard _stories_ of Skies being Rejected by Flame Users... it usually got messy, very quickly.

He brandished his whip in the hopes it would ward the woman off, he really didn't want to hurt her.

She snapped it out of the air and lit her Storm Flame.

Dino gagged, with flames in that level of concentration she would burn _through_ the whip that Leon made for him!

"HIEEEE AY-AYA-CHAN, DINO-SAN!" Tsuna wailed, flapping comically as he blundered between the two, immediately going towards the girl who had yet to remove her eyes from him.

But her flame stopped actively trying to eat through his whip. She stopped attacking.

"Tsuna?" the girl demanded, her voice a husky androgynous timber that Dino was kind of a little into but would not even _dare_ entertain the thought of anything past polite conversation after witnessing what had occurred earlier today. She might very well break him.

She Rejected him hard enough to leave metaphorical bruising on his Flame. Never mind that he was pretty sure she had to have some manner of Cloud affinity to physically launch his men over _houses_.

"Stop fighting! Please! Dino-san – Dino-san is Reborn's other student! He's not bad!" the little Sky explained, flailing at the young woman who oh so very slowly pulled her eyes away from Dino to look down at the brunet, her eyes immediately thawing and softening into a look of concern that made the blond immediately want to hit himself. That explained the volatile Rejection. She already had a Sky. She took his attempt to Pull her into his influence as a Poaching attempt. Well... She just earned a great big gold star in Dino's books for that reaction. Such loyalty was commendable.

"Looks like we just have a misunderstanding, Miss," he called over, drawing those icy green eyes back onto his face.

She didn't answer for a time, glaring suspiciously at him until Tsuna nudged her and gave her a particularly pathetic look when she glanced over to him. It was quite amusing to watch how quickly she crumbled in the face of the much smaller brunet's damp kitten expression.

She hiffed, glowering over at him, "So it _seems_," she acquiesced grudgingly, releasing his whip with an air of great reluctance.

Dino flicked it back into his hand, amused, as he watched Tsuna flutter around the girl who scratched the back of her head self-consciously, eyeing his men suspiciously as another girl, about five years old, her head swollen with an abundance of untrained Sun Flame, bustled over babbling in Chinese and presenting a bag to her. The grey haired woman replied, also in Chinese, and the little girl nodded, casting a glance over them all before rushing back into the house where a dark haired boy with green eyes, about the same age, was being sat on by Reborn.

"Hey Dino, want to stay over for dinner?" the Sun Arcobaleno 'asked'. Dino had been his student long enough to know an order when he heard one (any 'suggestion' from the Sun Arcobaleno was to be taken as the word of God and acted upon immediately or suffer _wrath_ on par with biblical proportions).

"I'm okay with it, but what about these guys?" he asked, casting a concerned look over his men, many of whom were looking a little worse for wear after their encounter with the young Storm still stood protectively in Tsuna's shadow, glaring at them all. A few of the others were chuckling amidst themselves in approval, one or two were a little irritated, one seemed to have love-hearts in his eyes, several looked to be pouting in annoyance that the fight was over and the others... were either unconscious or injured. It seemed the young lady had made quite the impression. Thankfully the men he had brought with him today were all familiar with Flames and the etiquette that went with them, none of them were holding the knee-jerk violent response of a young Guardian seeing a threat at her Sky's house against her. Hell, not even Dino could and the tip of his favourite whip was ruined. It was highly frowned on, but he would be lying if he said he _wasn't_ tempted to legitimately try and Poach her for himself. The idea of such a powerful and loyal little Storm in his pocket was attractive, and she was much easier on the eyes than most of his Famiglia – plus he had to start thinking about continuing the Cavallone Famiglia and a strong Flame Using wife would provide strong heirs.

Tsuna flicked a look over his shoulder at him; he was gripping the girl's sleeve as she rummaged in her bag for something, for once not looking around suspiciously, looking remarkably like a small clingy child next to his mother. But then Tsuna frowned, it was a small thing, and his grip tightened on the girl's clothing.

The blond twitched uncomfortably when the brunet's eyes glowed with orange embers for all of a heartbeat, gleaming reflectively almost like a cat's eye when a torch passed over it in the dark. He... hadn't heard what Dino just thought, did he? He couldn't have. No way. No one knew Reborn's little mind reading trick. Heheh... heh... mmm... Weren't the Vongola known for their Hyper Intuition? Erk.

That was a '**MINE**' if there ever was one for a Sky.

The young Storm was Vongola, and it seemed as though her Sky had every intention of _keeping_ it that way.

Reborn sent his men packing and the group of them trooped back into Tsuna's house. Up close, he decided, the young Storm was actually a lot prettier than when he first thought. Her hair wasn't grey, it was actually _silver_, gleaming strands of polished metal, thick, wavy, and right now, she was taking it out of the tight braid she'd gathered it all into, sheets of rippling silver streaming down her back. She wore a long sleeved red chinese shirt trimmed in gold with a phoenix curling across her shoulder and with the wings stretched out across her shoulders and down her back, on her fingers were various rings that he managed to identify as Russian made Flame Channellers. Very rare and not something they parted with easily these days. She wasn't very well endowed but her legs? Dino found his head tilting sideways to get a better look because if he wasn't mistaken those were some _very_ fine legs, attached to an even nicer backside.

It was just as they were stepping into the house, Tsuna and Reborn up ahead with the other children; her arm snapped out and shoved him against the wall too quickly for him to react, and without any of the others noticing. Dino froze as she turned and leaned up into his personal space, bent backwards awkwardly over the umbrella stand with frigid icy green eyes locked onto his own startled blue.

"You ever threaten Tsuna, or drag him into trouble, I'm going to rip your testicles off and wear them as fashion accessories. Am I clear?" she asked lowly, looking him dead in the eye. Not a threat. A promise.

Dino swallowed, blinking, "...Transparently," he managed to choke out.

"Good," she stated, and then released him.

"Aya-chan?" Tsuna called back to them from the kitchen.

The young woman turned away from him, all smiles, "Coming Tsuna!" she chirped as she toed off her shoes and stepped into the house, "Oof, it's good to be back. Yes, hello Lambo, alright alright, Reborn was bullying you again, huh?"

Dino chuckled a little weakly following after her, what a woman!

_**000**_

**Wifey and I like to bully Dino, we have yet to figure out why. I'm pretty sure it's because he's pretty XDDD**


End file.
